THE INDIA RUBBER ^A^ORLD 



[October i, 1906. 



Pounds. Pounds. 



1887 66,110 1897 3657.236 



18S8 163,447 1S98 4,649.623 



1S89 288,448 1899 8,242,935 



1S9O 272066 1900 11,696,375 



1891 "79.736 1901 13228,013 



1892 343.945 1902 11,770,994 



1893 ... 530.r37 I903 11,396,882 



1894 744,022 1904 10.628,066 



1S95 1,268,337 1905 10,695,887 



1896 2,Sy8,i6r 



While some of the areas first exploited for rublier have 

 now liecoine less productive than at the he;.^iiining, new 

 fields have been entered, and there remains no little territory 

 which has not been worked at all. Moreover, in placeswhere 

 originally onlj- rubber vines or creepers were known, and 

 when they seemed about exhausted, trees yielding rubber of 

 good qualitj- have been discovered. Altogether, the rate of 

 production is being maintained at such a rate that, during 

 the first .seven months of T906, more rubber from the Congo 

 was received at Antwerp than in the same ])eriod in either 

 of the last two jears preceding. And a study of the finan- 

 cial markets of Brussels and Antwerp shows a range of 

 prices for shares in the Congo rubber trading companies 

 that indicates a continued high degree of public confidence 

 in their future. 



Practically the first official act of the Congo Free vState 

 government as now organized, was to declare all unoccupied 

 lands to form a domain of the crown, all products of these 

 lands likewise being reserved to the state. Hence the basis 

 for a system of concessions to trading companies, protected 

 in their monopolies by all the power of the government. 

 INIany such companies have existed, and many still e.xist, 

 though there has been a series of reorganizations tending to 

 concentration of trading interests. Particularly has there 

 been a tendency to admit the participation of the state in 

 the profits of the co>ucssio7iaii'e companies. In a number of 

 cases the state holds half the shares issued by the companies, 

 it being understood that there has been no capital supplied 

 by the state. The companies acquire trading rights, under 

 governmental protection, and pay half the net profits for 

 their privileges. The Societe ABIR (Anglo-Belgian India 

 Rubber Co ), often mentioned as one of the more prominent 

 of these companies, and one of the first in the field, has been 

 noted for the extent of its profits and the prices paid for its 

 shares. More recently the Syndicat (or Compagnie) du 

 Kasai has figured largely in the Congo trade, being the re- 

 sult of the merger of fourteen rubber co?iccssiotiaire compumes, 

 in the Kasai valley. Half the shares in this combination are 

 held by the government. The Kasai company shipped S15 

 tons of rubber to Antwerp in 1903; 911 tons in 1904; and 

 1210 tons in 1905. Their profits in 1905 amounted to nearly- 

 $1,500,000, and it is expected that at the meeting this month 

 a dividend will be declared bringing the total for the last 

 business jear to 1500 francs per share — three times the 

 nominal value. These shares have been quoted recently at 

 16,250 francs. 



It will be seen from the above that for any outsider to 

 become interested in the Congo rubber situation in a large 

 way. negotiations would have to be entered into with the 

 government. Also, that while the present rate of financial 

 returns is continued, the Congo rubber interests can not be 

 bought for a song. 



The companies named below do not comprise all which 

 hold or have held concessions on the Congo, but only such 



as figure among the shippers of rubber to Antwerp during 

 the past year : 

 Compagnie du Kasai : 



S. .\. Beige pour le Commerce du Haul Congo. 



Neuwe Handels Vennootschap 



Society des Produits Vegetaux dit Haul Kasai. 



Cie. Anversoise des Plantations du Lubefu. 



Plantations Lacourt. 



Socield "La Belgika". 



Comptoir Congolais '■ Velde ". 



Soci^td ■' La Kassaienne ". 



Societe .\nonyine '• La Djunia ". 



L'Kst du Kvvango. S. A. 



Societe " La Loanje ". 



Central Africaine. 



Cie. des Magasins Generaux du Congo. 

 Societe Anonyme Trafic Congolias. 

 Societe Generale Africaine. 

 Societe ABIR. 



.Societe Anversoise du Commerce au Congo. 

 Comitc Special Katanga. 

 Cie. du Chemin de fer des Grand Lacs. 

 Societe Anonj'uie Isanghi. 



Societe Anonyme Beige Commerce du Ilaut-Congo. 

 Compagnie du Lomanii. 

 Societe Anonyme La Belgica. 

 Societe Anonyme I'lkelemba. 

 Societe Equatoriale Congolaise. 

 Societe Anonyme La Lulonga. 

 Camille D 'Heygere. 

 Comptoir Commercial Congolais. 

 Cie. Bruxelloise pr Commerce au Congo. 

 Compagnie Andrea. 



Another and important feature of the Congo rubber trade 

 is the collection of taxes by the state through the enforced 

 labor of the natives. In other words, taxes are paid " in 

 kind" — in rubber, principally instead of cash. The3-early 

 budget of the Congo Free State includes, among estimated 

 receipts, so many millions of francs of such taxes. How- 

 many pounds of rubber are required to discharge this obli- 

 gation is nowhere recorded, but the proceeds of the ta.x col- 

 lection are included in the arrivals at Antwerp for account 

 of the Societe Generale Africaine, which are referred to also 

 as for the Doniaine prive. These arrivals amount to more 

 than 2000 tons annually, and doubtless the business in- 

 volved would not be turned over to foreigners for a small 

 consideration. Any way, how would the purchaser manage 

 to keep up the collection of rubber? 



SOMH WANTS OF THE TRADE. 



[3i5] TT^ROM an Illinois hardware company : " We are in 

 -*- the automobile business and are an.xious to get 

 hold of some kind of vulcanizer for repairing automobile tires. 

 Can you give us the address of any party making such an 

 apparatus ? " 



[310] A well known mechanical rubber goods house would 

 like to communicate with the manufacturers of a waterproof 

 compound that can be used for saturating cotton woven 

 covering to be used on the outside of steam hose, a decided 

 improvement over the red paint and diecovering now in use. 



[•'{47] From Quebec : " Would you be so kind as to put me 

 in touch with some of our United States friends manufactur- 

 ing combination fountain and hot water bags, also uterine 

 syringes. I would buy in hundred, or more, lots, on manu- 

 facturer's own terms. I already have the Canadian manu- 

 facturers' figures." 



