From the South China Morning Post this week in: 1972
New York, January 19
The Association of Philippine Coconut Desiccators convened a two-day symposium, a kind of coconut convention, in the Plaza Hotel.
Even before the keynote speaker rose, the delegates were rallied to their theme by a preliminary exhorter who urged them to 'think coconut', a thing which they were more than a little ready to do. They were treated to a review of ... the great figures in the century-old development of the product - Henry Vavasseur, Robert Heinekey Buxton, Percy Appleby, Wyndham Stopford and Howard Hick.
The word 'desiccate' is defined as 'to dry thoroughly - dry up'. A desiccator is defined as 'one who or that which desiccates'. A desiccator can therefore be a person or a thing. To reduce the matter to its simplest essentials, the sponsoring group is an association of persons - desiccators - who use things - machines called desiccators - to dry up - that is desiccate - coconut meat. This is done near the groves. The dried meat can then be shipped ... with great ease and at much lower cost than whole coconut. The product is an essential ingredient of such good things as biscuits and cakes. The delegates were treated to something a little more exotic - coconut soup - at their banquet.
Hongkong January 20
Another landmark in the Colony, the five-storey crescent-shaped Hotung Building in Queen's Road West, will soon disappear, to be replaced by a 12-storey modern commercial and office block. This was disclosed by Mr Shaw Kam-on, the Managing Director of Golden Hand Industrial Co Ltd, the new owners of the building.