OCT, I, iSi^.'i THE rUOPlCAL At^mcVLtUUi8V> 



m 



down the market, both merchants aud dealers re- 

 maiued firm ; as the seasou advanced tlie latter hoped, 

 iu fact expected, shipiueuts woidd arrive wlieu mer- 

 chauts would be bound to ease dowii stock.s. They 

 had reckoned without their host, their action, as is 

 too often the case, was the result of a miscalculation, 

 other competitov.s had entered the field abroad, Messrs. 

 Catherwood, "Welsby and Co.'s orders alone for the 

 Australian market amounted to three-fourths of the 

 entire crop. "What a relief this must have been to 

 the Dutch merchants who through the operations on 

 this side of the globe were put ia a position to with- 

 stand the tactics of the " ring." Some small con- 

 signments were made to Holland from .Java towards 

 the close of the season, stocks by our last advices 

 from Holland dated April 27th had worked down to 

 2,000 bales, so that ne^t season at Java a rise may 

 be looked for, the crop will be keenly competed for 

 by Dutch and Australian houses. 



Satisfies show that Messrs. Catherwood, Welsby 

 and Oo. imported duting the season now closed 7,815 

 Java bales ; we notice some very large parcels arriv- 

 ing in one bottom, the S.S. " Khandalla " bringing 1375 

 bales ; the S.S. "Tannadice" 1442, both within a fort- 

 night of each other ; in January and February. The 

 bark "Eachel" arrived iu May with 1320 bales, the 

 first vessel that has ever carried a full cargo of this 

 product. 



The following comparative tables containing statist- 

 ics for the past three seasons will be found interest- 

 ing to this part of our subject: — 



Note. — A bale of Java kapok average weight is 

 about 80 1b.; a bale of Ceylon about 2001b.: a bale 

 of Indian about 400 lb. 



V.VLUE OF Entiue Pboduce. 



Country, 



Java ... 



Ceylon 



India... 



1884 



£ 



1400 



430 



3750 



1885 



1886 



£ 

 3700 



700 

 600O 



£ 

 22,600 

 lOOO 

 3250 



"W^hilc values have been comparatively steady for 

 the past three seasons, for both tlie Java and Ceylon 

 article, viz., 8gd. and 6d. per lb., free Melbourne, 

 there has been a gradual aud serious decline iu the 

 value of Indian kapok, receding from 5d. in 1884 to 

 3d. today. It is understood, we only allude to mer- 

 chants" parcels in original bales, tlie retail trade has 

 not been affected much by the fall. Even at the low 

 price Indian kapok is today, the trade find it to their 

 interest to pay 8§d. and higher for Java, than 3d. 

 for the former. The Indian is frequently received 

 in such a filthy condition as to be almost unusable, 

 more than 40 per cent of the whole being waste — 

 couijioscd of sand, dirt, seed.s, &c-, which necessitates 

 the bales being sent to a kapok mill to be cleaned 

 aud teased, for which the cost of milling is Id. per 

 lb. on the gross weight put through. On working out 

 the relative values of the Java and Indian artiele at 

 current market prices, in original bales as above quoted, 

 basing our calculations on the experience of experts, 

 we find that 21 lb. of the Java fill as well as 29 lb. 

 of the Indian in its teased aud prepared state, the 

 filling being the true test of respective values, re.stUt- 

 ing in a percentage of 38 in favor of Java. There- 

 fore manufactured articles of this commodity, filled 

 with the Java, are much lighter aud more easy to 

 handle, which is a great desideratum for bedding in 

 warm climates, for which purpose this product, at the 

 present period, is almost solely imported. 



This notice treats it only as an article of commerce ; 

 iu (jome future paper we hope to review it in its 

 sanitary aspect; 



We have not gone minutely into ttie Ceylon pro- 

 duet,, as the imports arc .so .small as to be almo.st 

 inappreciable. 



The Indian product iu its pre.sent state is thoroughly 

 objectionable. First, as regards staple on fibre, it is 

 both shoit and inferior iu other respects to the pro- 

 duce of Java. Second, the inequaUties of the stuff 

 found in each bale, good and bad mixed together, 

 added to which is the too frequent fraudulent pract- 

 ice of water packing, putting seeds, sand, an.l other 

 foreign substances in the interior, in a manner not to 

 be detected without opening the bale. Third, the form 

 of packing is not the least obstacle which has so far 

 acted detrimentally upon the quality. Hydraulic or 

 steam-prtiss packing of bales totally destroys that 

 peculiar elasticty to which kapok may be said to owe 

 its value— without this springy nature it is unsuitable 

 as a stuffing material. Moreover, it is found by hard 

 packing uncleaned stuff a dark-coloured oil is expressed 

 from the seeds which is sulfused over the kapok, and 

 consequently stains it, hence the noticeable differ- 

 ence in colour between the Indian aud beautifully 

 white Java product. We might go on multiplying 

 facts iu support of the position we have ass.sumed. 

 but wo think sufficient has been said to satisfy the 

 reader that when merchants complain of the inact- 

 ivity and declension of the Indian kapok trade as 

 compared with the rapid progress of its great rival 

 of Java, they should at least remember that a portion 

 of that declension is traceable to their own sins of 

 omission. Of the causes which have brought it about, 

 we have the opinion and experience of a gentleman 

 who has been connected with the trade in Ceylon and 

 India from its inception. AVe give it iu his own 

 words. Speaking of buying at Calcutta, he says: — 

 "The crop begins to come in about May. Dealers 

 go to the boats that bring it from the interior, and 

 bargain. They screw the boatmen down to the low- 

 est possible figure, stipulating for quantity rather 

 than quality, and as it is generally disposed of before 

 it is seperated from the seed, the boatmen gets much 

 the same price for it, no matter in what condition 

 it may be. They have no inducement to pick it more 

 carefully ; so that the truth is, the " middlemen " are 

 more to blame than the natives for the filthy con- 

 dition in which it reaches here. Little encouragement 

 is given to them. So badly thus it pay that during 

 June, July, and August there is always a cessation of 

 deliveries at Calcutta, on account of the natives turn- 

 ing to more profitable work, being busy with their 

 mango season." 



At Java the' trade has assumed a uniform practice. 

 No unclean stuff is shipped, but the dift'erent grades 

 of cleaning denote standard of (piality ; the first, 

 "extra cleaned," being cleaned by machinery and the 

 first picking of the crop; the second, denoted as 

 " best cleaned picked," being all hand-picked aud free 

 from seeds, except an odd one here and there ; the 

 third is simply designated " c/eaued." It contains a 

 few seeds, together with the "slubs," or little knotty, 

 curly lumps, which are cast aside from the higher 

 grades. Quality of any one class is found most uniform 

 throughout the bales. Packing is all done iu straw- 

 mats, and never tight pressed ; the first quality 

 " extra cleane<l," weighing about 65 lb. ; the second and 

 third, from 75 lb to 90 lb. Bales over 90 lb. to 95 lb,, 

 on account of having to be dumped by machinery, 

 destroying the elasticity of the fibre, are reckoned not 

 to be worth within gd. to Id. per lb. iu value of bales 

 of lesser weight. 



In fact, it is a peculiar feature of the Java trade 

 that weight of bales from an essential condition of 

 piice — the lighter the highest, aud rice verm. 



The article is of a kind that admits of a deal of 

 specidation. Its unparallelled development and firm 

 hold on Australian commerce hazards the belief that 

 it will take many a season before .supply overlaps 

 demand. 



The price of any raw article, especially one of 

 this nature, never remains long at one fixed rate. 

 In kapok, much depends on the season. If wet, the 

 crop is small aud poor. Again, with the fact that 

 tke demaad more tba^n keeps pace with the iucreaeed 



