It is stated that there are deposits of coal, petroleum, iron, lead, sulphur, copper and gold in the various islands, but little or nothing has been done to develop them.

A few concessions have been granted for working mines, but the output is not large.

The gold is reported on Luzon, coal and petroleum on Cebu and Iloilo, and sulphur on Leyte.

The imports of coal in 1894 (the latest year for which the statistics have been printed) were 91,511 tons, and it came principally from Australia and Japan.

In the same year the imports of iron of all kinds were 9,632 tons.
If the Cebu coal proves to be good quality there is a large market for it in competition with the coal from Japan and Australia.
Agriculture.
Although agriculture is the chief occupation of the Philippines, yet only one-ninth of the surface is under cultivation.