March 



1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER "WORLD 



191 



PROGRESS OF RUBBER PLANTING. 



MALACCA RUBBER PLANTATIONS, LIMITED. 



THERE has already been recorded in these pages the his- 

 tory of the preliminaries for the acquisition, b^'anew 

 company to be known as The Malacca Rubber Planta- 

 tions, Limited, of the important Bukit Asahan rubber 

 estate, in the MaFacca settlement, Malay peninsula, founded 

 by the wealthy Chinese merchant Tan Chaj- Yan, and own- 

 ed hitherto by The Malacca Rubber and Tapioca Co., Limit- 

 ed, in which Tan Chay Yan is the principal shareholder. The 

 capital of tlie new- company is ^300,000 [ = $1,459,950], of 

 which ^115,000 is in ■]% per cent, cumulative preference 

 shares and ^185,000 in ordinary shares. On January 24, 

 ^95,000 in preference shares were offered to the public in Lon- 

 don and, it is understood, were subscribed manj- times over. 

 Details regarding the estate appeared in Tiiic India Rubber 

 World September i, 1905 (page 413) and October i, 1905 

 (page 15). The prospectus recently issued contains a new 

 statement of the number of rubber trees on the estate which, 

 according to the latest report, is 421,581 Hevea and 63,705 

 Fiais elastica. The old company receive ^65,000 in cash and 

 ^100,000 in ordinary shares and ^20,000 in preference shares. 

 Besides, Tan Chay Yan subscribed for ^10,000 in ordinary 

 shares. Among the list of vendors appears the names of A. 

 H. Alden and A. W. Stedman, of the crude rubber trade in 

 the United States, who take jointly /^io,ooo in ordinary 

 shares. The registered office in London is 4, Sun court, 

 Cornhill, E. C, and the secretary J. A. H. Jackson. Mr. 

 P. J. Burgess has been appointed manager of the estate, and 

 from the age of the older plantings it is anticipated that the 

 collection of rubber will not long be deferred. 



OTHER NEW RUBBER COMPANIES. 



The Shelford Rubber Estate, Limited, with /;65,ooo 

 [=^316, 322] capital, has been formed in Glasgow, toacquire 

 and work the 'Shelford" estate, in Selangor, Federated 

 Malay States. ' ' The estate extends to 540 acres, 520 of 

 which are fully planted with over 100,000 ParS. rubber trees. 

 Of these approximately 10,500 are already of bearing age, 

 and, with the exception of iS, 000 trees planted last year, the 

 whole plantation will be in bearing in 1909." The board 

 includes several rubber planters, and William W. Maclellan, 

 of George Maclellan & Co., rubber manufacturers of Glas- 

 gow. Macdonald, Stewart «& Stewart, c. .\., secretaries, 126, 

 Hope street, Glasgow, Scotland. 



The Tenom (Borneo) Rubber Co., Limited, has been floated 

 in Glasgow, with /ioo,ooo [=$465,500] capital, to acquire 

 from Frank Bost, of Glasgow, a grant of 10,000 acres from 

 The British North Borneo Co., with a view to the cultivation 

 in Borneo of //ewrt rubber. The company plan operations 

 in the Padas vallej-, in the vicinity of Tenom. The British 

 North Borneo Co. guarantee 4 per cent, dividends for 6 

 years. Alexander T. Forgie, c. A., secretary, 22, Renfield 

 street, Glasgow, Scotland. 



The Rubber Estates of Johore, Limited, is a new London 

 company, with /;i50,ooo- [=$729,975] 'capital, of which 

 ^115,000 in shares were offered Februarj' 3, to take over 25,- 

 000 acres in Johore (.Malay peninsula), granted to Sir Frank 

 A. Swettenham, k. c. M. C, late governor of the Straits Set- 



tlements, The development proposed relates largely to 

 planting Hevea rubber. Sir Frank will be a director in the 

 new company. H, Eric Miller, secretary, 11, Idol lane, E. 

 C, London, is secretary also of the lately formed Anglo- 

 Malay Rubber Co., Limited, in which Sir Frank Swetten- 

 ham is a director. 



The Brazilian Rubber Plantations and Estates, Limited, 

 is a London company formed to acquire certain estates in the 

 Brazilian state of Cearfl, reported to include, besides growing 

 sugar and coffee, with machinery, buildings, etc., planta- 

 tions oi Hevea and Manihot Glaziovii rubber embracing 400,- 

 000 trees 5 and 6 j'ears old. The number of each species is 

 not given. There are also 20,000 Manihot trees planted 

 earlier by natives. The capital of the new company is ^180,- 

 000 [=$875,970] ; shares amounting to ^145,000 were offered 

 to the public February 5. The secretary and offices are J. 

 H. Rowntree, 16, Philpot lane, E. C, London. 



A LONDON RUBBER BROKER VISITS CEYLON. 



The Ceylon Observer reports a visit to Ceylon of a partner 

 in the firm of Lewis & Peat, who are probably the leading 

 rubber brokerage firm in London, having been interested in 

 that business for about 50 years. The firm, as readers of The 

 I.N'niA Rubber World know, have been favorabh- disposed 

 toward the cultivation of rubber and Mr. Andrew Oliphant 

 Devitt, the gentleman referred to, went out prepared to study 

 the preparation of rubber on plantations in Ceylon and the 

 Malay States. He was supplied with specimens of all the 

 grades of plantation rubber which had reached London from 

 the Far East, having first consulted the rubber manufactur- 

 ers at home fully in regard to the various qualities, his ob- 

 ject being ultimately to make the planters better acquainted 

 with the ideas of the consumers in regard to the merits of 

 the different grades and of the different methods of prejjar- 

 ing rubber. Mr. Devitt, it appears, is not impressed with 

 the idea that any advantage results in the preparation of 

 rubber in "worm "or " crepe " forms. He states that the 

 manufacturers desire that rubber shall reach them in a wholly 

 "raw" form, as they have facilities for washing in their 

 works. Mr. Devitt stated that he was not able to sa}' as yet 

 for what purposes plantation rubber was chiefly used by the 

 British manufacturers. He thought there was no harm in 

 using a little acetic acid for coagulating the latex. 



RUBBER INVENTIONS IN CEYLON. 



Sevicr.al applications for patents, which have been filed 

 at Calcutta, India, relate to inventions in connection with 

 the crude rubber industry. Three recent inventions by Mr. 

 George Smith Brown, an engineer of Talawakele, Cej-lon, 

 are as follows: (i) A process and apparatus to assist the 

 flow of latex when a rubber tree is being tapped ; (2) a pro- 

 cess and apparatus for removing the proteid, sugar}-, and 

 other objectionable matter from crude rubber, for conversion 

 of the crude rubber into material of uniform quality for ren- 

 dering the finished rubber "tacky" proof and capable of 

 being rapidly dried ; and (3) a process and apparatus for the 

 economical preparation and production of rubber of a uni- 

 form quality and for the collection and storing of rubber 

 latex. 



