PLANTATION RUBBER INDUSTRY OP THE EAST. 487 



experimental plantation of the Para rubber tree in the 



Tenasserim division of Burma I am aware that 



attempts are being made to develop the production of rubber 

 in Ceylon and elsewhere by private enterprise, liut I do not 

 think that this is a reason why the Government of India 

 should not do their best to develop their lesources in that 

 country, and encourage private enterprise ])y showing that 

 this tree can be profitably cultivated in parts of India " 

 (May 18, 1901). 



Later in the year the Ceylon Planters Association presented 

 a memorial to the Secretary of State for the Colonies 

 protesting against the proposed plantation in Burma, and 

 their example was followed by the United Planters' 

 Association of the Federated Malay States. How far these 

 memorials influenced future action is not known, but 

 operations appear to have been confined to planting 

 663 acres and clearing another -772 acres in 1902 {T. A., 

 XXII. , p. 606). 



The foregoing particulars may be supplemented by several 

 additional details from " Notes on the Cultivation of Hevea 

 brasiliensis in Burma," by W. A. Hearsey. 



Hearsey states that of the eight seedlings planted in the 

 Forest office compound at Mergui (now the Mergui Municipal 

 School), two were ahve in 1906. Their girth was about 5 feet. 

 They were tapped as an experiment in 1902, when 2.^ lb. of 

 dry rubber was taken from each. 



In 1898 36 of the fifty odd trees which were in existence 

 at Bokchaungale in 1888 were still ahve. 



The number of seedlings in the nurseries in 1888, which, 

 as we have said, seems scarcely credible, becomes 42,039 in 

 Hearsey's account. He states that planting seems to have 

 been carried out over the 56 acres of the Mergui Exi)erimcntal 

 Garden up to the year 1892, about 8,000 to 10,000 plants 

 being put out at 20 feet by 10 feet. In October, 1898, there 

 were 5,000 trees of aU sizes. 



With regard to the proposal to establish a plantation of 

 10,000 acres, Hearsey states that, up to 1906, 2,500 acres had 

 been planted up by Government, viz., 1,500 acres in Mergui 

 and 1,000 acres on King's Island. 



