Note 215 — Chapter XXVI · THE COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE FRENCH POSSESSIONS

There is a very curious circumstance connected with the ground-nut trade. All the ground-nuts go to the Continent—both from Senegal and Gambia—the oil extracted, therefrom, or the bulk of it, is used in making margarine, which is subsequently consumed, to a very large extent, by the English people! Why have we not our own crushing-mills? Is it because we are short of milk? It cannot but strike one as peculiar and unfortunate that we should send our West African ground-nuts to France, and afterwards buy from the French the oil the nuts yield for our own consumption! Ground-nuts will grow anywhere in West Africa, and the labour involved in cultivating them is very small.