218 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i. 1909. 



The Editor's Book Table. 



TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF BRITISH MALAYA: 

 Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources. Abridged 

 Edition. Editor in Chief, Arnold Wright (London). Assistant Editor, 

 H. A. Cartwright (Singapore). London: Lloyd's Greater Britain Publish- 

 ing Co., Limited. 1908. [Cloth. Large 4to. Pp. 285. Price, 12s. 6d.] 



FEW of the oversea possessions of the British crown, outside 

 of India and the great self-governing colonies, can compare 

 in interest and importance with the Straits Settlements — 

 the central point of which is Singapore — and the related Malay 

 States under British rule. British Malaya, indeed, provides 

 to-day perhaps the most remarkable illustration throughout the 

 empire of the remarkable national genius of England for coloni- 

 zation. Only a few decades ago the area covered by the Straits 

 Settlements was dear to the hearts of the writers of boys' stories. 

 It was the region of pirate junks, of marauding tribes who 

 shared the primeval forests with the hardly more wild man-eating 

 animals. To-day life in no part of the world is nowhere more 

 orderly, life nowhere safer; systematic and efficient government 

 prevails, and wealth is being amassed at a rate almost fabulous, 

 carrying with it the introduction of the conveniences and ele- 

 gances of the best civilization that the world affords. 



Not that the whole scene has been changed ; far from it. The 

 original inhabitants remain, with their costumes, manners, 

 religions, and outward forms of government. But a new element 

 has entered, and it controls — quietly, and behind the scenes, but 

 none the less effectively. His Highness, Sir Ahmad Maatharn 

 Shah'ibini Almerhum Ali, K. c. M. G., the Sultan of Pahang, for 

 example, may rule the people of his district with all the pomp 

 and picturesque display of his ancestors, but the local British 

 "resident" has the last word when a question of real moment is 

 to be decided. The Chinaman, too, has appeared on the scene, 

 as is evident from the mercantile advertisements in the Kuala 

 Lumpen and other daily newspapers, or from every page 

 of the city directory of Singapore, but the Anglo-Saxon is in 

 control. 



So much by way of suggestion of the breadth of the subject. 

 As for the book, its mere appearance, even before one has a 

 glance at the contents, commands respect and invites confidence. 

 It would be hard to suggest a feature of life in the region to 

 which it relates that has been overlooked by the compilers, who 

 in most cases have had the assistance of collaborators of reputa- 

 tion as specialists. There is history, description of the country, 

 and an account of the native peoples. Everything seems to have 

 been covered, and every page bears the impress of painstaking, 

 and that suggests accuracy. On this point we may quote The 

 Malay Mail, published on the ground, so to speak, as commending 

 the book in the latter respect, especially. The number of pages 

 mentioned above gives no adequate idea of the extent of the work, 

 as the typographical style admits of four times as much reading 

 matter as one is accustomed nowadays to find on a page, and the 

 effect is pleasing. And there must be a thousand attractive and 

 informing illustrations. 



Of course planting is dealt with, and rubber planting. Mr. J. B. 

 Carruthers, director of agriculture in the Federated Malay States, 

 and Mr. Francis Crosbie Roles, editor of The Times of Ceylon, 

 write on rubber, and the illustrations of plantation rubber being 

 prepared by modern machinery, under scientific methods, com- 

 pare strikingly with some forms of native handiwork pictured on 

 other pages. 



This book is described on its title page as an "abridged edition," 

 which it is. The first imprint was a sumptuous subscription work 

 embellished with a vast number of portraits, which have been 

 omitted in printing the work for wider distribution. Likewise 

 biographies of local and present celebrities have been dispensed. 

 But even "abridged" the book is a wonder of fulness. As a col- 

 lection of pictures alone the book is worth its price. 



"THE ARGOSY" HANDBOOK OF BRITISH GUIANA AND DIREC- 

 tory for 1909. Georgetown: The Argosy Co., Limited. 1909. [Cloth. 

 8vo. Pp. i.x -\- 352. Price, $1.20.] 



Few corners of the British empire are more remote from the 

 center than little British Guiana, the sole British possession in 

 South America. Yet one who has the privilege of reading the 

 well-edited Georgetown newspaper. The Argosy, will gain the 

 impression that the apparent isolation of the colonists by no 

 means keeps them out of touch with the mother country, or 

 with the world at large. This impression is strengthened by a 

 look over the very complete handbook which the proprietors of 

 this newspaper have brought out this year for the first time. A 

 glance through its pages reminds one of England in many ways ; 

 in fact, British Guiana life is evidently an England in miniature, 

 judging from the "institutions" listed in this book. British- 

 Guiana is of importance to the rubber trade as a producer on a 

 continually growing scale of balata. and attention is being given 

 lately to the native rubber resources of the colony and also to 

 rubber culture. 



PHYSIOLOGISCHE GRUNDLAGEN ZUR BEWERTUNG DER ZAPF- 

 methoden bei Kautschukbaumen. Nach einigen Versuchen an Hevea 

 Brasiliotsis. Von Professtr Dr. Hans Fitting. (Beihefte zum Tropen- 

 pHan::cr, 1909, No. 1.) Berlin. [8vo. Pp. 43.] 



This is a very comprehensive study of methods of tapping 

 rubber trees of the most important species, following considera- 

 tions on the physiology of the plants and particularly of the bark 

 formation, and the conditions favorable to the flow of latex. 

 The studies were carried out at the botanical gardens at Buiten- 

 zorg, Java. There are several illustrations and copious refer- 

 ences to what has been' published on the subject hitherto. The 

 author treats of methods or systems, rather than of particular 

 types of tapping knives. 



IN CURRENT PERIODICALS. 



Die Zukunft des Parakautschuks am Amazonas. By Dr. S. H. Berkhout. 

 [An answer to a review of a German consular report by D. Sandmann en- 

 titled "Die Gewinnung des Parakhautschuks am Amazoans und seine Zu- 

 kunft," in an earlier number of the same periodical. ]=:D(?r TropenpHancer, 

 Berlin, (xiii-2 Feb. '09.) Pp. 53-68. 



Observations sur le Manitoba de Jequie (Manihot dichotoma, Ule). By 

 Leon Mosselman du Chenoy.=-/oi(t-nfl/ d' Agriculture Tropkale, Paris, vill-90 

 (Dec. 31, '08). Pp. 357-360. 



RUBBER IN THE "GREAT LONE LAND." 



IT is surprising to note the extent to which the india-rubber 

 dealer has made his invasion up into what, but a few years 

 since, was considered the 'great lone land of Canada' — the 

 old provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta," the 

 returning traveler remarked. 



"Up at North Battleford, where, hardly over twenty years 

 ago 'Kiel's rebellion' was fought, the business in rubber shoes is 

 most flourishing, for the mud of these prairie towns is so bad' 

 that the people must buy or perish, well nigh. And there, as 

 table-center in the big hotel, rubber plants thrive in the northland. 



"At Lethbridge, last summer, they had sixteen days of succes- 

 sive rain, and so rubber coats, umbrellas, etc., were in demand. 

 Even off at Indian Head, now, one can get 'rubber' collars in 

 the drygoods stores, these at 20 cents apiece. 



"Then interesting, in the barracks of the Royal Northwest 

 Mounted Police, at Regina, it is to see at the end of each of 

 these cavaliers' beds a splendid rubber blanket used on their 

 long, hard rides after fugitives in the North. Against the 

 wall beside each bed, too, there is a yellow slicker, serving as 

 a raincoat which the rain cannot get through. And so, since 

 these men have 'beats' extending up to the very Arctic itself, 

 the rubber invasion is carried to the shores of that frozen sea." 



F. J. K. 



