October i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



37 



Opening of the Rubber Exhibition. 



THE official opening of the Rubber Exhibition occurred 

 at 2:30 p. M. on September 14. At that hour Sir Henry 

 A. Blake, g.c.m.c, was received by the reception com- 

 mittee and proceeded to the dins. There he was invited by 

 the chairman of the committee to declare the Exhibition open 

 and to start the machinery. After the President, accompanied 

 by the reception committee, made a tour of the building and in- 

 spected the exhibits. While this continued the band played the 

 national anthems of the several countries taking part in the 

 Exhibition, concluding with the British. 



In declaring the E.xhibition open the President said : 



"COLOXEL BOSWORTH AND MEMBERS OF THE EXHIBITION COM- 

 MITTEE: I appreciate deeply the honor that you have done me by 

 inviting me as your President to open this unique and important 

 exhibition, illustrating as it does every phase of the great india- 

 rubber trade from the germination of the seed to the ultimate 

 uses in some of the thousands of channels through wliich manu- 

 factured india-rubber ministers to the w-ants of modern society. 



"But first I must congratulate you, and especially your organ- 

 izing manager, Mr. Staines Mandcrs, upon the energy and ability 

 that have produced the satisfactory results that we see around us. 



"When we remember that every portion of the tropical regions 

 in which the rubber producing plants grow, including Asia and 

 the great islands of the southern seas ; Africa, Central and South 

 America, and the West India islands has sent its contribution, 

 that 30 rubber growing countries are contributing, and that no 

 less than 18 governments have sent their representatives in 

 charge of their exhibits, you will realize how great is the im- 



portance attached to this first International Rubber Exhibition 

 held in Europe; and on your behalf I welcome our foreign friends 

 who have joined us in this movement for mutual instruction and 

 advancement in the many problems connected with the produc- 

 tion of raw rubber that still remain unsolved, as also those who 

 have sent here their beautiful and delicate machines — that you 

 will presently see start into life, and the manufacturers who have 

 exhibited some splendid specimens of finished products. 



"The Exhibition marks an era in the history of rubber — a 

 product that during the past half century has played a greater 

 part than any other substance in expediting human progress, for 

 without it no cables could have been laid between far distant 

 continents to give the means of that instantaneous communication 

 that make for peace and friendship and commerce. 



"This is no mere exhibition in the ordinary sense; it is rather 

 a great International Congress of all classes who are interested 

 in what is now a rapidly expanding trade and what will one day 

 be among the largest fields for sound investment in the world. 

 But 30 years ago the rubber then used was produced almost ex- 

 clusively from the far interior of the forests of Brazil, and you 

 will see in the fine exhibit sent by the Brazilian government the 

 form in which the rubber was produced, and the reproduction of 

 the primitive but effective process of its preparation for the 

 market. To-day, thanks to the Royal Botanic Department at Kew 

 which distributed the seeds to Ceylon and India, the plantation 

 of rubber lias increased so rapidly, especially within the last 

 decade, that it is computed that between Ceylon, Malaya and 

 other Eastern countries there is now an area of over 500,000 



I'lK.ST Session of the Intern.\tion.al Rubber Conference. 



