August 



1907.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



335 



The Amazon Rubber Country. 



Tllli drawbacks to the rubber trade in its initial stages is 

 illustrated by a paragraph in the latest report of the 

 Amazon Steam Navigation Co., Limited : "Amazonian 

 trade was again active, but a sudden and abnormal fall unusually 

 early in the season — notably the Puri'is and its tributaries in the 

 Acre district — caused much difficulty and inconvenience, a very 

 large number of steamers having had to wait several months for 

 sufficient water to allow of their return to Manaos and Para. 

 Several of the company's steamers were thus incapacitated for 

 lengthened periods, but all ultimately returned safely to Para, 

 without having suffered seriously by their detention." 



* * * 



The Brazilian government has authorized a survey of the 

 rivers Puriis, Acre and Jurua, with a view to the improvement 

 of navigation on them. These are the principal rubber produc- 

 ing affluents of the Amazon, yielding about two-thirds of the 

 rubber gathered in Amazonas state, besides most of the produc- 

 tion in the Acre district. It long has been realized that the 

 removable obstructions in these streams interfered greatly with 

 the rubber trade, particularly with the regularity and promptness 

 of shipments, but the government at Manaos at no time under- 

 took measures for the improvement of navigation. 



In many places rocks exist, capable of being removed without 

 great expense, which interfere with shipping when the water is 

 low. Besides, the annual freshets bring into the rivers many 

 uprooted trees which become lodged in such a way as to prevent 

 the passage of boats for weeks or longer at a time. The trouble 

 caused is twofold: not only is the movement of rubber interfered 

 with, but the carrying of food and other supplies upstream, 

 sometimes causing actual suffering among the rubber gatherers 

 and checking their work. 



Now that the Acre district has become a federal territory, 

 administered from Rio, with extensive revenues, a more liberal 

 policy may be pursued with regard to river improvements than 

 was shown at Manaos. Such a policy cannot fail to be welcomed 

 by the rubber interests. 



* * * 



Madame Coudreau, widow of Henri Coudreau, a Frenchman 

 who distinguished himself as an explorer in South America, 

 where he died and was buried in 1899, is seriously devoting her 

 life to the continuation of his unfinished work. Since 1893 Mme. 

 Coudreau has spent the greater part of her time in the Amazon 

 regions, first with her husband and now at the head of her own 

 expeditions. Recently she left France for her fourteenth series 

 of explorations, which will be conducted in the vast state of 

 Amazonas. Her other work has been mainly in the state of 

 Para. This work has consisted in exploring the less known 

 affluents of the Amazon, for the purpose of bringing to light the 

 resources of the regions traversed, the expenses being defrayed 

 by the state. Among other things of value, Mme. Coudreau has 

 discovered important areas of Hcvca, the tree that yields Para 



rubber. 



* * * 



The Galvez Rubber Estates, Limited, floated recently in Lon- 

 don, with £150,000 [='$-29,975] capital, to acquire three adjoining 

 rubber properties in the province of Caupolican, department of 

 La Paz, Bolivia, have begun operations. .At a meeting in Lon- 

 don on June 18, presided over by Frank Hillyard Newnes, m. p., 

 he stated that the properties embraced about 2000 estradas, and 

 the transfer had been completed of 1,000 estradas, and 450 rub- 

 ber gatherers w-ere at work. Their manager had sent word that 

 about 22.000 pounds of rubber would be shipped in July, direct 

 to Michelin et Cie., the French tire manufacturers, who were 

 under contract to buy all the company's rubber, up to 600,000 



pounds a year for two years. The company had sent to Bolivia 

 £10,000 in payment for lands and £5,000 for working capital. 



Frank Newnes is a son of Sir George Newnes, Bart., m. p., 

 who is interested in The Inambari Para-Rubber Estates, Limited, 

 in Peru [see The India Rubber World, June 11, 1907, page 284], 

 and is himself a director in that company. He has personally 

 visited some of the properties referred to. The Galvez proper- 

 ties are within the area some time held under a concession by 

 Sir William Martin Conway, and one of them has been worked 

 by J. .Austin Pharoah, now associated with the Inambari in- 

 terests. 



Sir Martin Conway, named above, is now chairman of the 

 board of The Inambari Para-Rubber Estates, Limited. 



* * * 



In reporting on rubber in Bolivia a Belgian consul says that 

 w-ithin 20 years after caucho trees have been cut down a new 

 growth may be found on the same area, which may then be 

 worked again. He mentions 65 pounds as the average yield of 

 the caucho trees. 



* * * 



At the time of the flotation of De Mello Rubber Co., Lim- 

 ited, in London, in July, 1906, only 175,000 of the 225,000 partici- 

 pating cumulative preference £1 shares were offered to the pub- 

 lic. Since that date the remaining 50,000 shares have been issued, 

 in order to meet the requirements of the company with regard 

 to working capital. It was stated in the original prospectus that 

 during five years the De Mello estates, partly in Amazonas and 

 partly in the Acre territory, had yielded an average output of 

 nearly 300 tons per year, rising in 1905 to 385 tons. It was 

 expected that the current crop year would show a product of 

 more than 500 tons of rubber. The company's preference shares 

 have been admitted to quotation on the Paris bourse. It is 

 stated that a half yearly dividend at the rate of 7 per cent, on the 

 participating preference shares was paid on July i. 



* * * 



The Para-Manaos cable of The Amazon Telegraph Co., Lim- 

 ited, has been working latterly with fewer interruptions than 

 formerly, and the company are considering a branch line up the 

 Madeira river to San Antonio. The traflfic earnings for three 

 fiscal years (ending June 30) have been: In 1904, £40,298; in 

 1905, £67,000; in 1906, £63,596. Meanwhile the subsidy received 

 from the state has increased as the service has improved, owing 

 to the lessened number of interruptions. If this improvement 

 continues, it will soon be a thing of the past for the rubber 

 market to be affected by a report that the cable has broken down. 



* * * 



The Manaos Markets and Slaughter House, Limited, has been 

 registered in London, with £500,000 [^=$2,433,250] capital, to ac- 

 quire and turn to account a concession for the establishment of 

 markets and a slaughter house in Manaos, the great rubber cen- 

 ter of the upper Amazon. 



* * * 



Exports of Bolivian rubber through the port of San Antonio, 

 on the Madeira river, during five j-ears were as follows [in kilo- 

 grams] : 



1900 780.930 1903 539,904 



1901 876.S4S 1904 894,508 



1902 586,335 



The exports for 1904 embraced 776,176 kilos fine rubber; 

 89,522 kilos coarse ; 142 kilos caucho sheet ; 28,668 kilos caucho 

 ball. Of the total, 521,659 kilos were exported by the Suarez 

 firm (Suarez Hermanos) headed by Nicolas Suarez, the forest 

 "rubber king" of whom a sketch appeared in The India Rubber 

 World April i, 1905 (page 223). 



