2 JANUARY 1909, Page 20

SLAVE-GROWN COCOA.

[To Tall 111DITOIC OF THU " SPIOT•TOlt."

Sru,—In your footnote to the letter signed "G. J. N.7 in the issue of December.19th, 1908, you state that, as far as you know, Messrs. Van Houten are the only firm who use no cocoa from San Thom6 and Principe, and you expressed a hope that other firms would follow thie good example. You may there- fore be glad to know that, so far as can be ascertained, this Society has not only never bought cocoa beans from these two sources, but that its buyers have received strict injunctions not to purchase any. In the Society's factories large quantities of Cocoa are dealt with and inado up in the various, prepara- tions of chocolate and cocoa in common use.—I am, Sir, Stz., S. STRACHEY, Secretary. Army and Navy. Co-operative Society, Limited, 1 Howick Place, Westminster, S. W.

[It is with the utmost satisfaction that we publish this communication from the secretary of the Army and Navy Stores. That the refusal to use the slave-grown cocoa is net accidental, but the result of deliberate policy, makes Colonel Strachey's statement doubly valuable.—En. Spectator.]