26o 



great distances apart, and therefore involves an enormous amount 

 of labour in collection, whereas on a plantation, with trees 15 ft. 

 apart, the quantity from each tree is small, but a number of trees 

 are tapped with a minimum of labour. 



THE COLLECTION OF RUBBER 

 is mainly a question of labour. There are vast forests of untapped 

 trees in the basin of the Amazon, where no human being has ever 

 penetrated, and in order to exploit these distant primeval forests 

 immense barren regions, mountain ranges, and passes have to be 

 traversed, whereas in plantations now being opened in Ceylon and 

 the Malay States, a few hours' journey along a good cart road 

 brings the produce to the railway. Whenever cheap labour can be 

 found, as in China, India, Japan, Ceylon, and elsewhere in the East 

 where coolie labour has penetrated, the only problem for solution 

 to enable European capital to find profitable employment is to hit 

 on an article or occupation within the capacity of that labour. A 

 coolie cannot make your clothes, your boots or your watch ; but 

 he has been imported into South Africa for gold-mining purposes, 

 and in his own country he can be used for plucking tea or cocoa, 

 planting rice, or doing any other outside work appertaining to 

 tropical agriculture. For such purposes he is employed " for all 

 he is worth," and in consequence the world is supplied with 

 tropical produce at a price which would be impossible if it were 

 grown in countries where labour is more highly paid. If Kent or 

 Surrey could grow tea, coffee, cocoa, rice, pepper, or spices, they 

 would cost the consumer almost as much more as the difference in 

 wage ; i.e., from eight to ten times as much. In Ceylon a coolie's 

 wage is 6d. a day, out of which he feeds himself, and is happy 

 and contented. It is he who has brought the price of tea from 2/6 

 a pound to 7d., which is the average wholesale price for Ceylon tea. 



NO PROSPECT OF OVER-PLANTING FOR 30 YEARS. 

 It is probable that rubber, which is the article under considera- 

 tion, will also be brought down in price in years to come ; but as 

 tea has taken twenty-five years to reach the point of over-produc- 

 tion, with a three or four years' wait for the first crop, it is fair to 

 assume that rubber, which is a six to seven years' wait will take 

 a longer time, if ever it is over-done. Added to this, there is a 

 good deal less land available for rubber planting that there was 

 for tea ; and inasmuch as the cheapening of tea has led to a greater 

 consumption, it is a fair supposition that any cheapening of rubber 

 is likely to stimulate consumption to a much greater extent ; indeed 

 it is more than probable that all the planting that can take place 

 in the world during the next thirty years will barely keep pace 

 with the very much increased demand. There is a great shortage 

 to make up before the normal price of a year or two ago will again 

 be established, and a number of industries which are now languish- 

 ing will be revived when rubber is cheaper. The normal figure 

 for fine Para should be about 4/3 per pound ; it is now 5/7 and 

 the comparative price for Ceylon biscuit rubber should thus be 5/, 

 whereas it fetched 6/7 at the last sale in Mincing lane. 



