Contains loose photographs measuring approximately 205 x 145 mm and captioned on the print. The photographs show scenes on plantations and the various stages in the manufacture of copra. After sugar, which was introduced as an industry into Fiji after the British annexation of 1874, copra was Fiji's biggest export earner. The Fijians already extracted an impure oil from the coconut, which they traded with the missionaries and early traders, but it was not until Fiji became a Crown Colony that the industry was placed on a sound commercial footing. Coconuts are an easy crop to raise after the initial five to seven years of non-productive growth and could be made to yield up to a ton of copra per acre. With the intensive cultivation of plantations, the islands' production increased rapidly: from 3781 tons in 1875 (valued at £40 058) to a high-water mark in 1900 of 15605 tons (valued at £151 701). This compares with a sugar yield in that year of 32961 tons (value £393 987).