1886: copra and sugar in Levuka and Fiji

“Levuka …commands quite a respect able proportion of the commerceof the group, including that of tho whole of tho extensive islands of Vauna, Levu, and Tavinui, besides that of ‘Loma Loma, and the whole of the windward and central group, and of the northern coast of Viti Levu itself.
This includes the sugar estates of:

• Billyard and Co. and
• W. Hunter, of Tavinui
• Messrs. Chalmers Bros., and the
• Ellington plantation on Viti Levu, and
• Mango Island Co.

Copra trade controlled by Hennings, Hoerder, and, Nedemann: The trade in this article (which is the dried flesh of the cocoanut) is, however, almost entirely monopolised by the German firms of Hennings, Hoerder, and, Nedemann, although portion of the cash paid for it finds its way into general circulation. The copra being purchased by these firms…. most of it finds its way lo tho German markets”.
The Mercury Supplement, (Hobart, Tasmania), Saturday 13 February, 1886. This item appears written by a Levuka resident in early 1886, or late 1885. It encourages tourism to Levuka, as a rest from an overheated Australia. Author uses the name “Tasmanian”. Possibly Frederick Langham Perhaps ship-owner and trader with a long term trading relationship with Levuka and Suva, for at least five years – since 1880.

1868: Cotton, copra, trepang tortoise-shell traders in Fiji; Lewis Cohen

Sir Lewis Cohen(1849-1933), merchant and politician, was born on 23 December 1849 at Liverpool, Lancashire, England, son of Henry Cohen, outfitter and businessman, and his wife Elizabeth, née Harris. 

Partnership in Fiji with a school mate, Adolphus Meyer Brodziak:  The family arrived in Sydney about 1853 and Cohen was educated there until, at 14, he went to school at Edmonton near London. Three years later he returned to Sydney and worked in his father’s office for twelve months. With capital provided by his father, in 1868 Cohen entered partnership in Fiji with a school mate, Adolphus Meyer Brodziak, handling cotton, copra, trepang and tortoise-shell, in an expanding and profitable barter trade. 

Councillor, constitution negotiator at Levuka, 1872:  He later recollected that he had contributed usefully to negotiations for constitutional government in Fiji. In 1872 he sat on the first municipal council at Levuka.

 Eric Richards, ‘Cohen, Sir Lewis (1849 – 1933)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8, Melbourne University Press, 1981, p. 57.