\o L. xrir. xo. 30" 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



11 



LIVE STOCK NOTES. 



RUBBER INDUSTRY, 



DISEASE WITHOUT SYMPTOMS. 



Considerable attention has been given recently in this 

 Journal to the South American equine disease called Mai de 

 Caderas. According to the Demerara Daili/ Argosy (Mail 

 Edition. December 6, 1913), inforoiation and suggestions of 

 a valuable nature bearing on the disease were imparted 

 to the Veterinary Committee of the Board of Agriculture, 

 Kritish Ouiana, by Dr. L. S. Sambon, Lecturer on Tropical 

 Diseases at the London School of Tropical Medicine, at 

 a meeting of the committee, which was held at the office of 

 the l»irector of Science aud Agriculture at the Botanic 

 Gardens on Sunday morning. November 23. 



1 >r. Sambon -suggested the necessity for taking precau- 

 tion in the matter of isolating in stables, specially protected 

 Jrom flies, all animals suffering or suspected to be suffering 

 from the disease. It would also seem, in continuation of 

 thi.s point, that each estate owner, particularly the small 

 proprietor, should be careful in the matter of lending or 

 hireing out his mules or horses to another estate where the 

 disease may have occurred. 



The chief point, however, raised by Dr. Sambon, and the 

 oni' which constitutes the central idea of thi-* article, is this: 

 that whilst cattle and goats appear to be immune to the 

 disease, they may carry the organism an I spread it from 

 place to place, without showiuk; any .'•yiiiptom.-'. To find out 

 whether there is any scientific foundation for this assumption 

 in the case of the disease in question, it would be nece.ssary 

 to institute a series of cro.ssinoculation e.\periments, and 

 possibly in the course of further investigation of .Mai de 

 Caderas. this important line of work will be followed up. 



One of the most cla-ssical e.xamples of a disease which 

 can be transmitted by animals without the exiiibition of 

 symptoms is the fatal disease of human beings known as 

 Malta fever A good account of this disease will be found in 

 Circular \o. 21.5, Bureau of Animal Industry, of the United 

 States r)epartment of Agriculture. 



As its name implies, this disease was exceedingly preva 

 lent in Malta, and investigations have shown that it is due 

 to a causative organism known as MicrorovcKs iwlitensis. 

 It has been reported from Spain, Gibraltar, Italy, the 

 Mediterranean Islands, Turkey, China, India, Palestine, the 

 Philippine Islands, North Africa and South Africa — and of 

 the American countries, Venezuela, lirazil, Uruguay, Cuba 

 and Porto Rico. 



Investigation has proved that goats are principally 

 responsible for the distribution of this disease, and although 

 the animals appear to be in a state of perfect health, the 

 milk of those goats which are infected is alwaj's contaminated 

 with the organism which causes the disease. The fever was 

 practically eliminated amongst English soldiers s'ationed at 

 Gibraltar, by prohibiting the consumption of raw goat's milk. 

 It may be noted here, that vaccine treatment has not proved 

 satisfactorj' in controlling the disease in goats. The best 

 course seems to be the detection of infected animals by the 

 agglutination and complement fixation test, and destruction 

 of all reacting animals. The virus may also be carried, it 

 must be remembered, by dogs, rabbits ind other animals. 

 Lastly it should be borne in mind that' the germ of .Malta 

 fever occurs in the urine and faeces of infected goats, so 

 that the .'^anitary conditions around places where goats are 

 kept should be maictaired at a high standard. 



NOTES ON THE PRESENT POSITION. 



The premium in favour of tine hard Para, which consti- 

 tutes the principle factor of interest in the market, now stands 

 at a lower rate (according to the Indm RiMer World for 

 December 1, 1913) than at any time since the middle of the 

 year, being now at 9Jc/. against Wld. on October 27. In 

 fact, plantation rubber has gone up Id. without any corres- 

 ponding rise in the fine hard Para standard. 



In spite of this favourable turn, great attention is still 

 being directed towards the question of combination for selling 

 plantation rubber. In the India RuOUr Journal (November 

 22, 1913) an account is given of the meeting of the sub com- 

 mittee of the Rubber CIrowers' Association, appointed to 

 investigate the fall in the price of plantation rubber, and to 

 report on the possibility of arriving at some arrangement fcr 

 protecting the interests of producers. (For an account of 

 a previous meeting in the present connexion see the Agrirultu- 

 ral News, Vol. XII, p 3i>.ii.) The cmmittee have come to the, 

 conclusion that any artificial restriction of production is not 

 feasible. They h<ve no doubt arrived at this decision after 

 considering thedifticulties which confront plantation interests 

 generally in the way of curtailing the production of particular 

 estates whose costs vary so widely. The committee report, 

 however, that combination on certain lines for selling is- 

 advisable but not practicable unless it has the support of 

 prfiducers responsible ffir at lea.st 50 per cent, of the output of 

 plantation rubber. The committee also realize that nO' 

 combination c^n be really eflFective unless it is backed by 

 a substantial amount in cash. 



The Association has refrained from entering into any 

 details in regard to the manner in which it is proposed to- 

 carry out the scheme, and the onlj- requirement at present is 

 that companie.s should vote as to whether the propo-als 

 enumerated in principle should be put into practice The 

 refusal to provide details has, in some quarters, given rise to 

 dissatisfaction, but the Press maintain that the Association 

 has acted wisely in not making public the details of its 

 scheme. 



At some of the recent annual meetings of plantation 

 rubber companies, views have been expressed which lead one- 

 to the conclusion that combination is not necessarily the 

 only remedy for the present depressed condition of the 

 industry. At one meeting it was stated that the cause of 

 the trouble would appear to be rather that plantation rubber 

 is not sold on its merits, and the remedy would seem to lie 

 in the direction of encouraging its uses rather than ia 

 attempting to create or declare a value for it. Consider- 

 able importance is attached to the circumstance that the 

 Rubber Producers' Association has now established at Kuala 

 Lumpur an experimental station, where the actual manu- 

 facture of vulcanized rubber can be carried on. Should thi& 

 be placed at the disposal of those who are experimenting 

 with various processes of curing, it may be of considerable 

 service. One rubber manufacturer said he strongly depre- 

 cated any attempt to interfere by artificial roean.-^ with 

 the ordinmy course of .-upply and demand It was the 

 opinion of ibis speaker that the forward sales of rubber, 

 which had brought a temporary profit to a numb> v of 

 estates, had done more to bring about the extreme (iacta- 

 ation in prices than anything c-lsi-. 



