November i, 1906.] 



IHE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



41 



RUBBHR PLANTING IN THE FAR EAST. 



Acres, Acres, 

 1903 1906. 



47 2,626 



bo i,6go 



go 6 832 



RAl'IU KXTENSION IN CEYLON. 



AN idea of the great extension of rnbber planting in 

 Ceylon during the past three years may be gained 

 from the following comparison of the acreage in 

 rubber in the principal rubber planting districts, in 

 July, 1906, with the acreage in July, 1903, the figures being 

 compiled from Ferguson's "Ceylon TIatidbook. " 



Acres, Acres, 



I'lsTRlCls. 1903- I90<'>. UlSIRlCIS. 



Galagedera 50 i.SSy Matale Hast. 



Galle — 3,947 Matale South 



Kahitara 2,357 15.493 Jlatale West. 



Kef^alla 159 6,232 Moiiaragala 143 3.497 



Kelani Valley .. .4,100 21,701 Passara 31 1,952 



Kurunegala 50 3,^78 Raliiapura — 7,<'7o 



Whereas the rublier phuUed in these districts three j-ears 

 ago amounted to onlj- 7107 acres, the returns at the middle 

 of this year were 77,807 — a ten-fold increa.se — not counting 

 more than 2,000,000 rubber trees, planted under various con- 

 ditions and not included in the reports of acreage. The 

 same rate of increase has prevailed throughout the island, 

 for there is now rubber in 46 of the 57 political divisions. 

 Ferguson's total estimate of rubberplanted was 11,630 acres 

 three years ago, and 103,766 acres in July this 3ear. 



Of this, 68,364 acres are reported as being in rubber alone, 

 17,802 in rubber planted with tea, and 7852 acres in rubber 

 planted with cacao The total 103,766 acres is arrived at 

 by adding the rnbber reported by number of trees instead 

 of acres, at an average of 175 trees per acre. These figures 

 do not include any planting done bj- natives. It is estimated 

 by Ferguson that the eventual extent of rubber on Ceylon 

 estates will be 150,000 acres. 



The increase in the yield of plantation rubber in Ceylon 

 has been rapid, due to new trees coming into bearing and 

 an increase in the rate of yield. Kxports in 1903 amounted 

 to 41,798 pounds. During the twelve months ended June 

 30, 1906, exports reached 238,647 pounds. 



The growing interest in rubber in Ceylon is shown further 

 by the number of large companies formed to acquire rubber 

 estates. Selecting only those indicated by their titles as 

 devoted to rubber, Ferguson's company list shows over 70 — 

 a class of companies which did not exist three years ago. 

 Altogether, of the 1583 cultivated estates of all kinds of 

 which Ferguson gives statistics, no fewer than 665 embrace 

 more or less rubber. 



LONDON OPINION OF RUBBER I'l.ANllNG. 



The Times of Ceylon's London correspondent writes to his 

 paper: "The position of rubber shares generally is under- 

 going a gradual change here in London, and on the whole a 

 healthy one. We hear very little now of the ' produce-it-for - 

 fourpence-and sell-it-for-6.f. 6rf. ' which was characteristic of 

 the earlier days of the boom. It is now becoming gradually 

 recognized that while the potential profits of rubber jilanting 

 are far greater than those, e.g., of tea planting, even rubber 

 planting is not going to be exempt from its share of the evils 

 which attend all human things. It is being whispered that 

 there are going to be difficulties with labor, that disease is not 

 a contingency to be entirely lost sight of, and above all that 

 the price is not always going to remain at over 6.$. Discuss- 



ing this last point with a produce broker in close touch with 

 the plantation rubber industry, he remarked that in all prob- 

 ability we should never see 6 shillings again ; the price, he 

 said, had got to come down, and when it did the uses of 

 the article would increase enormously. He thought there 

 would always be a more or less fixed relation between the 

 price of I'ara and of Plantation, but which would be highest 

 in the future he would not undertake to say — everything 

 would depend on whether on further use plantation rubber 

 proved suitable for the general purposes of manufacturers. 

 He thought planters should continue experimenting with 

 smoking and in other ways get their rubber harder." 



THE SITUATION IN MALAYA. 



Mention was made in these pages last month of the esti- 

 mate by Mr. Carruthers, in the government service in the 

 Federated Malay States, of the amount of rubber planting 

 there — about 38,000 acres. It should not be considered that 

 the total acreage there is so much smaller than in Ceylon as 

 comparison with Ferguson 's figures would indicate. In the 

 first place, the 38,000 acre estimate is a year old, and much 

 rubber has been planted meanwhile. At the same time, it 

 is probable that some of the Ceylon estimates supplied to 

 Ferguson related to planting in progress at the time that 

 was never carried out. Taking into account the rubber 

 planted in Joliore and the Straits Settlements, as well as in 

 the Federated States, The Times of Ceylon is disposed to re- 

 gard the age in all Malaya as large as in Ceylon. 



Statistics of yield and export of cultivated rubber in the 

 Federated Malay vStates are not always available promptly. 

 Official figures now to hand show exports during 1905 as 

 follows : 



Pounds. 



From Selangor 159,867 



From Negri Senibilan 45,467 



From Perak 26,666 



Total 232,000 



The official export figures for Ceylon in 1905 were 168,547 

 pounds. Since the beginning of this year the exports of 

 cultivated rubber from Malaya have been growing at a more 

 rapid rate than from Ceylon. It may be cau.se for surprise 

 to some readers to learn that the Strait's production exceeds 

 that of Ceylon, but it appears that, wdiile actual planting 

 began first in Ceylon, and afforded a seed supplj' for the 

 Federated States, the planters of the latter section were the 

 most prompt to go into rubber seriously and on an extensive 

 scale. 



PKIZE RUBBER PLANTATION PRODUCTS. 

 The rubber department of the third joint annual agri. 

 horticultural .show at Singapore, on August !6-i8, is re- 

 ported to have been very interesting. There were many 

 former Ceylon planters present and other well known 

 .Straits planters. The show was opened b3- the governor, 

 Sir John .\nderson, k. c. m. g. The rubber exhibits showed 

 an improvement on last year, this being most marked in 

 curing. They were mostlj- in the form of sheet and crepe, 

 and of the latter there were some verj' fine samples. A 

 sample of block rubber sent in by Mr. Pears, of Lanadron 

 estate, Johore, which took a prize, attracted much attention. 



