. 1916. 1919.
Cacao beans per lb. 1d. 1-1/2d. 6d. 4-1/2d. foreign, 3-3/4d. British
Cacao butter per lb. 1d. 1-1/2d. 6d. 4-1/2d. foreign, 3-3/4d. British
Cacao shells per cwt. 2s. 3s. 12s. 6s. foreign, 5s. British

In considering this duty and its effect on the price of the finished
article, it should be remembered that there are substantial losses in
manufacture. Thus the beans are cleaned, which removes up to 0.5 per
cent.; roasted, which causes a loss by volatilisation of 7 per cent.;
and shelled, the husks being about 12 per cent. Therefore, the actual
yield of usable nib, which has to bear the whole duty, is about 80 per
cent. It may be well to add that the yield of cocoa powder is 48 per
cent. of the raw beans, or roughly, one pound of the raw product yields
half a pound of the finished article.

_Introduction of Cocoa Powder._

The drink "cocoa" as we know it to-day was not introduced until 1828.
Before this time the ground bean, mixed with sugar, was sold in cakes.
The beverage prepared from these chocolate cakes was very rich in
butter, and whilst the British Navy has always consumed it in this
condition (the sailors generally remove with a spoon the excess of
butter which floats to the top) it is a little heavy for less hardy
digestions. Van Houten (of the well-known Dutch house of that name) in
1828 invented a method of pressing out part of the butter, and thus
obtained a lighter, more appetising, and more easily assimilated
preparation. As the butter is useful in chocolate manufacture, this
process enabled the manufacturer to produce a less costly cocoa powder,
and thus the circle of consumers was widened. Messrs. Cadbury Bros., of
Birmingham, first sold their "cocoa essence" in 1866, and Messrs. Fry
and Sons, of Bristol, introduced a pure cocoa by pressing out part of
the butter in 1868.

_Growing Popularity of Cacao Preparations._

The incidence of import duties did not prevent the continuous increase
in the amount of cacao consumed in the British Isles. When Queen
Victoria came to the throne the cacao cleared for home consumption was
about four or five thousand tons, more than half of which was consumed
by the Navy. At the time of Queen Victoria's death it had increased to
four times this amount, and by 1915 it had reached nearly fifty
thousand tons. (For statistics of consumption, see p. 183).

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