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THE INDIA RUBbER WORLD 



317 



RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA EXPLOITATION. 



GUTTA-PERCHA CONCESSION FOR AN AMERICAN. 



WILLIAM ALLEYNE IRELAND, of Boston, Massa- 

 chusetts, has obtained from the government of 

 British North Borneo a concession entitling him to 

 select any number of tracts of land within the do- 

 main of that government, not exceeding in the aggregate 20,- 

 000 acres, for the purpose of collecting native India rubber and 

 Gutta-percha, under exclusive rights, and of planting and cul- 

 tivating native or foreign species of India-rubber and Gutta- 

 percha. The lessee is to form a company with a capital of not 

 less than $100,000, gold, and to prospect for and select with as 

 little delay as possible suitable lands, for which purpose two 

 years, from September 22, 1902, will be allowed. Within one 

 year from the selection of each tract, the work of developing it 

 must be begun. The term of the lease is 999 years. A nomi- 

 nal sum in the form of quit rent is to be paid each year to the 

 government, and all India-rubber or Gutta-percha produced 

 shall be liable to an export duty — not more than 10 per cent. 

 ad valorem, based upon current prices at Sandakan, and in no 

 case more than is exacted of other shippers from the state. The 

 lessee in selecting any tract may apply for the privilege of re- 

 moving timber or other produce than India-rubber and Gutta- 

 percha, but in all cases the mineral rights are reserved to the 

 government. The concession also contains specifications re- 

 specting the planting of India-rubber and Gutta-percha. 



Mr. Ireland was lately in British North Borneo engaged in 

 the study of problems of colonial administration, as one of the 

 special commissioners sent out for this purpose by the Univer- 

 sity of Chicago. He is a brilliant writer and lecturer, whose 

 topics generally have related to systems of colonial govern- 

 ment. He has published works on " Tropical Colonization," 

 " The Anglo-Boer Conflict," " Demarariana," etc., and numer- 

 ous contributions to the North American Review, Atlantic 

 Monthly, and other periodicals. He has spent many years in 

 Australia, the East andjWest Indies, and other tropical coun- 

 tries. 



British North Borneo, in the extreme northern portion of 

 the island, has an area of about 40,000 square miles. The cap- 

 ital, Sandakan, is 1000 miles from Singapore, 660 miles from 

 Manila, and only separated by the Sulu sea from the southern 

 Philippine islands. Gutta-percha has been found in every part 

 of Borneo yet explored, and to day the island ranks next to 

 Sumatra in thetotal production of Gutta-percha. British North 

 Borneo of late has shipped considerable gutta, though the 

 trade has been left entirely to the Chinese, and no comprehen- 

 sive plans for the exploitation of the interior have been under- 

 taken. American capital on a large scale in that quarter 

 would be welcomed by other traders than the Chinese, as it 

 would tend, in connection with American interests now devel- 

 oping in the nearby Philippines, to break the Chinese monopoly 

 in Gutta-percha which has existed so long. 



A ONE HUNDRED PER CENT. DIVIDEND. 



Antwerp journals predict that at the general assembly of 

 the Anglo Belgian India-Rubber and Exploration Co. (the 

 ,Societe A B I R), on June 1, when the reports for 1902 will be 

 presented, a dividend of 500 francs per share will be declared. 

 Originally the capital was stated at 1,000,000 francs — 2000 

 shares of 500 francs each. Since the reconstruction of the 

 company the capital has been given as 2000 shares, value not 

 stated, but the actual amount of capital is supposed not to have 



been changed. A dividend of 500 francs per share, therefore, 

 means a dividend of 100 per cent. One half the profits go to 

 the Congo Free State, in return for which the Soci6u A B I R 

 have a monopoly for thirty years of about 470 square miles of 

 rubber territory, on the Lopori and Maringa rivers, in the 

 Equateur district. The business of the company has been less 

 profitable of late, however, than in some former years. The 

 dividend for two years ago was 2100 francs per share, equal to 

 420 per cent. At the beginning of 1901 shares were sold as 

 high as 28,925 francs, or practically 60 for one ; on May 1 last, 

 the quotation was only 15.350 francs. During 1902 The India 

 Rubber World recorded arrivals of rubber at Antwerp for the 

 account of the SocieHe A B I R to the extent of 841,060 pounds. 

 A dividend of 100 per cent, on the company's capital would re- 

 quire a profit of 23 cents per pound on this amount of rubber. 



RUBBER PLANTING IN UGANDA. 

 In a report on the " Exotic Plants of Economic Interest in 

 the Botanic Gardens at Entebbe, Uganda," Mr. J. Mahon, in 

 charge, writes: " We have a large number of Landolfihia seed- 

 lings which were obtained from Sesse [Islands] in 1900. Noth- 

 ing is more puzzling than the slow rate at which this common 

 native plant grows under cultivation. It is quite clear that it 

 requires to be sown where it is intended the plants are to re- 

 main. It resents transplanting, and some seedlings we put at 

 the base of trees in a stretch of forest to grow au nature/ have 

 remained practically as they were put out six months ago." 

 There are large areas in Uganda (British East Africa) contain- 

 ing an abundance of Landolphia vines yielding excellent rub- 

 ber, but as Mr. Mahon regards it " practically impossible to 

 cultivate this plant," the botanical department is experiment- 

 ing with all the celebrated rubber yielding trees with a view to 

 demonstrating whether that country offers a field for establish- 

 ing rubber plantations on a commercial basis. He regards it 

 as only a question of the activity of traders to determine how 

 long the natural supplies of rubber {Landolphia) will last. He 

 reports the favorable growth of Hevea, Castil/oa etastica, and 

 Manihot Glaziovii. 



ECUADOR RUBBER AND DEVELOPMENT CO. 

 [See The India R bbbr World, I'txernber 1, iaoj — page So.] 

 The Hon. David Secor, treasurer of this company, who has 

 been recently in Ecuador, cabled home that the purchase had 

 been concluded of important additional rubber properties on 

 which an option had been held, as already reported in these 

 pages. The option had been obtained by other members of the 

 company, subject to approval by Mr. Secor. The company's 

 headquarters are at Winnebago City, Minnesota. 



LOS ANDES RUBBER, LUMBER AND FRUIT CO. 



[Seethe India Rubber World, February 1, i^o.-- page 143.] 

 At a meeting of the newly elected directors, in New Orleans, 

 on May 6, the following officers were elected : Frank A. Dan- 

 iels, president ; E. H. McFall, vice president ; T. Duncan, treas- 

 urer ; George Montgomery, Secretary. The company (incor- 

 porated in Louisiana in September. 1901) now hold 500 mana- 

 zanas [ = 9176 acres] of land under a concession from Guate- 

 mala, instead of 200 manasanas, as at the beginning The lo- 

 cation is 30 miles from Port Barrios. Banana shipments are 

 now being made, and a rubber plantation has been formed. 



* * * 



The Tehuantepec Rubber Culture Co. have removed their 

 New York offices from No. 35 Nassau street to No. 81 Wall street. 



