202 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i, igop. 



using the boiling process a substance having a noxious action 

 against the enzyme but a harmless one toward rubber 

 could be utilized. Many experiments to discover a body which 

 would render innocuous the oxidizing enzyme have been fruit- 

 less. So, from a practical standpoint, the destruction of the ox- 

 idizing enzyme is not as simple a matter. There are a number of 

 difficulties to overcome, and, only when the nature and properties 

 of the enzyme are more closely investigated, may we hope 

 to ascertain a practical method for the removal of this substance." 



EXPERT OPINION ON PLANTATION RUBBER. 



'"T" HE very interesting comments on plantation rubber by 

 •*■ Herr Prinzhorn, a prominent German manufacturer, repro- 

 duced in the last India Rubber World (page 183) are fittingly 

 supplemented by the expressions attributed to a British manu- 

 facturer by the Ceylon Observer. The gentleman referred to 

 is Mr. Patrick Millar Matthew, chairman and managing direc- 

 tor of The Victoria Rubber Co., Limited, of Leith, Scotland, 

 who recently made an extended visit to the rubber planting dis- 

 tricts of the Far East. We quote from an editorial in the 

 Ceylon newspaper : 



"Though we did not personally meet him, we hear that while 

 in Colombo, Mr. Matthew — who had seen some fine rubber in 

 Malaya, including one 15-year-old tree which had given 50 

 pounds dry rubber in one year — gave it as his opinion that the 

 ultimate killing out of the wild rubber industry by the 'planta- 

 tion' was regarded by him as a certainty ; and that it was only a 

 question of time, himself thinking it would probably not be con- 

 summated for another twenty-five years. No wonder, therefore, 

 that Continental as well as British users of rubber on a large 

 scale are coming out to make certain for themselves the extent 

 (in acreage) and resources (in capacity for big yields) of plan- 

 tation rubber in the East. Mr. Matthew, we hear, has interests 

 in plantations in Johore and has recently made a tour of estates 

 in Malay Peninsula. 



"He is very satisfied in every way with the prospects of the 

 plantation industry and says that the rubber can be used for any 

 purposes, and in some trials made for the sake of comparison 

 the plantation product gave better results than the Brazil rubber. 

 From plantation rubber he has turned out splendid 'thread 

 rubber,' which is a very high test. As regards the age of the 

 trees, and its influence on the quality of the rubber, he is of 

 opinion, from his experience, that after, say, 8 years, the rubber 

 is of full strength, and there is little difference between the rub- 

 bers of trees 8, 12 and 15 years of age. 



"Mr. Matthew is also of opinion that all rubber should be 

 shipped in the form of crepe, and does not favor biscuit, sheet, 

 etc. He also advises — and is, we hear, very particular upon 

 this — that every estate should mark its rubber with its stamp. 

 This can easily be done by the creping machine. The reason is 

 that there are in England certain small firms who are offering 

 to manufacturers and others lots of 'plantation crepe rubber,' 

 very little of which has ever come from any plantation. A 

 small percentage of it is plantation rubber, and this is blended 

 and mixed with African and other low grade rubbers, washed 

 and creped, and then offered as the genuine article from the 

 East, at a handsome profit to the blenders. Mr. Matthew's firm 

 has had repeated offerings of this sort, and he thinks it would 

 be of great service to the plantation industry if all rubber were 

 marked with the estate mark." 



Following the publication of the above comments attributed 

 to Mr. Matthew, he wrote to India-Rnbber Journal (London) 

 to the effect that he had not been quoted with accuracy. He said, 

 among other things : "I am aware that it is the view of some 

 experts that plantation rubber 'can be used for any purpose,' and 

 that 'splendid thread rubber' can be made from it, but this is 

 not my opinion. There is no doubt that, if properly treated, 

 plantation rubber can be successfully employed for most purposes 



for which wild Para is now in use, and possibly in time to come 

 it may be used in the manufacture of thread, which is probably 

 the highest test of quality to which it can be subjected." 



Another British manufacturer who lately has visited the Far 

 East is Mr. Arthur Stanley Morrison, a director in the Leyland 

 and Birmingham Rubber Co., Limited, and has long been in- 

 terested in the rubber manufacture in a practical way. Mr. 

 Morrison is a director in at least one planting company, as also 

 is one of his fellow directors in Leyland and Birmingham. 



A ptTtinent comment in a London financial paper is that, more 

 than questions of quality and price, the introduction of planta- 

 tion rubber in many factories has been retarded by the small 

 total stocks available thus far, and the irregularity of arrivals. 

 With the constant increase of production, however, these draw- 

 backs seem likely soon to disappear. 



Rubber Manufacturers in Planting Companies. 



Colonel R. K. Birley, c. b., v. d., chairman of Charles Macintosh 

 & Co., Limited, chairman of Beaufort Borneo Rubber Co., 

 Limited. 



P. A. Birley, of Charles Macintosh & Co., Limited, director in 

 Manchester Xorth Borneo Rubber Co., Limited. 



F. H. Smith, of Charles JIacintosh & Co., Limited, director in 

 Manchester North Borneo Rubber Co., Limited. 



James E. Baxter, chairman of the Leyland and Birmingham 

 Rubber Co., Limited, director in the Manchester North Borneo 

 Rubber Co., Limited. 



Arthur S. Morrison, Leyland and Birmingham Rubber Co., 

 Limited, director in ^Manchester North Borneo Rubber Co., 

 Limited. 



C. E. Ireland Blythe. of the North British Rubber Co., 

 Limited, director in the British Sumatra Rubber Co., Limited. 



Patrick M. Matthew, chairman of Victoria Rubber Co., 

 Limited, director Tehran ( Johore) Rubber Syndicate, Limited, 

 Malaya. 



W. W. Maclellan. of George Maclellan & Co., Limited, direc- 

 tor of British Borneo Para Rubber Co., Limited ; Jugra Land 

 and Rubber Estate Co., Limited ; and Shelford Rubber Estate 

 Co., Limited — the latter two in Federated Malay States. 



Peter Maclellan, of George Maclellan & Co., Limited, director 

 in Trolak Plantations, Limited, Federated Malay States. 

 In Exploitation Rather Than Planting Companies. 



Arthur du Cros, of Dunlop Rubber Co., director in Liberian 

 Rubber Corporation, Limited, West Africa. 



James O. Callender, of Callender's Cable and Construction Co., 

 director in De Mello Brazilian Rubber Co., Limited, Brazil. 



THE NEXT RUBBER EXHIBITION. 



'T'HE proposal to hold an international rubber exhibition 

 •*■ in London in igio has been met with the suggestion in 

 various quarters that this date does not allow of the lapse of 

 sufficient time following the Olympia show of last September. 

 Herr Adolf Prinzhorn, of the German rubber industry, and who 

 is now in the Far East, has expressed the opinion over there 

 that a rubber show in London next year would be interfered 

 with by the international exhibition to be held in Brussels during 

 the same year. This view is shared by the Ceylon newspapers, 

 which express the opinion that it is doubtful if the planters, 

 commercial bodies, and governments of Ceylon and Malaya 

 would support a distinctively rubber exhibition next year as lib- 

 erally as in 1908. Walther Freudenberg, a merchant of Bremen, 

 some time resident in Colombo, has published a suggestion that 

 the attendance at the Brussels exhibition will be large, and 

 probably embrace everybody on the Continent interested in 

 rubber. It is understood that efforts will be made at Brussels 

 to have the agricultural department up to date, and the next 

 international agricultural congress will be held at Brussels at 

 the same time as the exhibition. 



