Jl-NK I. I (JO/. I 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



271 



Progress of R 



RUBBER PLANTING RESULTS. 



THE annual reports to the sharelioUIcrs of the rubber plan- 

 tation companies in ilic Far East, prepared in many 

 cases by persons of long experience in the statistics of 

 plantation work, are beginning to include many details of prac- 

 tical value in relation to rubber culture. For the present, 

 however, these reports are nut always as satisfactory as they 

 might be if patterned after a conuuon model, in order to allow 

 for fuller comparison, one with another. Below are presented 

 a few figures from the reports of several Ceylon and Malay 

 States companies now producing rubber. 



St.\tistics of Yield. 

 Tlie reports of 14 companies relate to the collection of 328,266 

 pounds of rubber in 1906 from about 241,415 trees, but details 

 are lacking as to the product of ditTerent ages. In a few cases 

 the trees have been tapped for the first time ; in others, part 

 of the trees have been tapped one, two and three years pre- 

 viously. The 880 trees on the Golden Hope estate, which 

 yielded an average of 3 pounds, are 8 years old. Some of the 

 young trees included in these reports yielded less than yi pound 

 each. Details for the 14 companies follow : 



Pounds. Trees. Average. 



Sandycroft Rubber Co 16.507 13.046 1.26 pounds. 



Pataling Rubber Estates.... 43,310 39,336 1. 10 pounds. 



Bukit Rajah Rubber Co.... 33,203 a 33,203 i. pounds. 



Kepitigalla Rubber Estates.. 42,612 21,500 i.<)8 pounds. 



Vatiyantota Tea Co 8,790 4,636 1.90 pounds. 



Cicely Rubber Estates 9,184 6,919 1.32 pounds. 



Golden Hope Rubber Estate 2,640 880 3. pounds. 



Kalutara Co 8,128 4,336 1.87 pounds. 



Union Estates Co 758 400 1.89 pounds. 



Shelford Rubber Estates.... 6,808 9,636 .71 pounds. 



General Ceylon Tea Estates 10,574 5,924 1.78 pounds. 



Blackwater Estate 13,033 8.744 '5 pounds. 



Consolidated Malay Rubber 32,693 Ii..u8 2.88 poulids. 



Anglo Malay Rubber Co. ... 100.019 b 81.500 1.23 pounds. 



Total 328.266 241,415 1.36 



[a — Estimated, t — Tliis figure represents the number of trees standing, 

 6 years old or ovtr.] 



In several cases tlie yield exceeded the estimates in.ide in 

 advance. The Seramban company, not named in the table, 

 figured on 35.000 pounds and collected 62.268. The Anglo Malay 

 estimated about 53,000 pounds and collected more than 100,000. 



The Highlands and Lowlands Para Rubber Co., Limited, not 

 named in the table, collected 130,365 pounds in 1906. They 

 have 26.023 trees 8 years old and 38.265 from 5 to 6 years. The 

 number actually tapped is not stated. 



In most cases figures are not available of the yield of the 

 plantations for 1905, but it can be stated that five estates pro- 

 ducing 95.446 pounds in that year bad an output of 161.939 

 pounds in 1906. 



Prices RE.\LizEn. 



The prices realized for rubber by the several companies arc 

 figured out in averages — fine rubber and scrap not being dealt 

 with separately. The Sandycroft company reports a yield of 

 12,717 pounds of sheet and 3,461 pounds of scrap, but in general 

 the proportion of scrap is not indicated. The prices realized are 

 not always stated on the same basis. Thus the Seramban com- 

 pany gives the average gross price obtained at Colombo, and 

 the Pataling Rubber Estates net price obtained in London. In 

 a few cases the cost per pound of harvesting and marketing the 

 rubber is given, but in this respect the basis of estimating 

 differs. The figures in this table relate to values expressed in 

 American monev : 



ubbcr Culture, 



Pounds. Average. Cost. 



General Ceylon Tea Estates 10.574 $'303/4 



Kalutara Co K128 1291/3 .181/2 



L'nion Estates Co 758 1.291/3 



Vatiyantota Tea Co S.790 1.293/4 -39 1/2 



\;ogan Tea Co 6,077 ' 24 3/.S 28 1 /5 



Eastern Produce and Estates.... 22.558 '^l .V4 



Ceylon Tea Plantations 7,1.^2 1.293/4 



Seramban Estate 62,268 1.143/4 -o-i 1/4 



Bukit Rajah Rubber Co 33.203 '.313/4 



Pataling Rubber Estates 42,898 '251/5 .'3 



General Ceylon Tea Estates '0,574 ' -30 3/4 



Blackwater Estate 13.0,33 '.191/3 571/2 



Clyde Tea Estates 1.775 '.232/3 .431/2 



Consolidated Malay Rubber .'2,693 1.21 1/8 



Selangor Rubber Co 64,885 1.242/3 



It appears to be conceded that the cost of rubber is higher in 

 the Malay States than in Ceylon, though it is hoped to reduce 

 this difference when the labor problem has been better sys- 

 tematized. In most cases the price given as realized for rubber 

 is net — that is, selling costs deducted. 



Dividends. 



'1 he Seramban Estate Rubber Co.. Limited, for the business 

 year 1906-07 reports profits equal to 27.38 per cent, on the paid 

 in capital, after paying interest, directors' fees, and advances on 

 labor account which are not expected to be recovered. The 

 dividend declared is 24 per cent. 



The Pataling Rubber Estates Syndicate, Limited, declared divi- 

 dends amounting to 40 per cent, for the year. 



1 he Sandycroft Rubber Co., Limited, made net profits equal 

 to $10,170.37 (gold) atid paid 20 per cent, in dividends. 



The Consolidated Malay Rubber Estates, Limited, had a net 

 profit of $32,606, and paid 10 per cent, in dividends. 



The -\nglo-Malay Rubber Co., Limited, reported profits of 

 •£'9,599 [=$95,378.53] and disbursed £18,888 in dividends, 

 amounting to 18 per cent, on the paid up capital. 



The Selangor Rubber Co., Limited, reported profits of £13.676 

 and paid a dividend of 40 per cent. 



PLANTING INTERESTS IN MEXICO. 



The president of the Mexican Mutual Planters Co. (Chicago), 

 Mr. George C. Sanborn, reports to the investors in the com- 

 pany a favorable condition of the rubber, coffee and cacao on 

 their 'La Junta" plantation, in Vera Cruz. The rubber area is 

 to be brought this year up to 3300 acres. The older rubber, 

 now at six years, embraces many trees of a size which in recent 

 experiments has yielded 3K' ounces of dry rubber at a single 

 tapping. 



The latest report of the Isthmus Plantation Association of 

 Mexico (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) shows expenditures to Novem- 

 ber 30, 1906, of $447,638.35 (gold). The amounts realized from 

 "side crops" during six years, for the dividend fund, aggregated 

 $75,914.86. The number of rubber trees planted is 868,141, 

 beginning with 4.681 in 1900. It is expected that 5,000 pounds 

 of rubber will be gathered this season. There are 250,000 coffee 

 trees, and the estim.ited product this year is 50,000 pounds. 



The latest report to the shareholders of the Joliet Tropical 

 Plantation Co. shows expenditures to February 28, 1907, of $164,- 

 222.57. While awaiting the growth of their rubber (in Vera 

 Cruz, Mexico) the company is devoting attention to grazing, 

 among other things, as a source of current profit. There has 

 been disbursed in three years $10,801.28 in dividends. 



The Tolosa Rubber Co., successor to the ill-fated Ubero Plan- 

 tation Co., of Boston [see The India Rubber World, February 1, 

 1906; page 142], sends out a report showing a favorable condi- 

 tion of the rubber on their plantation '^J^ Oaxaca, Mexico — about 

 136.000 trees. The company reports ample funds up to date for 



