150 



THE INDIA RUBwER WORLD 



[February i, 1905. 



on Cametd coarse rubber, beginning with the new year, than is 

 levied on fine rubber, with a view to checking the production 

 of the CametS grade, when the same late.x can be used for the 

 production of " fine." 



A LONDON OPINION ON CEYLON RUBBER. 



In their annual review of the India-rubber marltet for 1904, 

 the London firm of S. Figgis & Co., India-rubber and colonial 

 brokers, have this to say : " Plantation rubber grown in Ceylon 

 and Malay States has increased considerably, and we are glad 

 that our recommendations for several years past as to the 

 larger planting of this have been followed so widely. The 

 quality of the fine biscuits and sheets grown from Pard seed 

 has continued to be very good. Prices show an advance of is. 

 6d. for fine. This ' plantation rubber' is much liked for special 

 work and for solution. We obtained the highest price of the 

 year, viz.. 6s. \d. in December. Everything oflered has found 

 ready buyers, and there is room for thousands of tons from 

 Ceylon and the Straits if the quality is maintained; the scrap 

 and ball have also been liked and sold well — up to 45. <)d. per 

 pound. Rambong [from Ficus elaslica] has realized good 

 prices. We hear of plantations of rubber in Mexico, Guate- 

 mala, and Central America, Peru, etc., also in India, Burma, 

 and Borneo, and hope they will be from ' Para seed,' and pro- 

 duce fine hard clean rubber, for which there is a regular de- 

 mand." 



NEW RUBBER PLANTING COMPANIES. 



Cevlon Cocoa and Rubber Co., Limited, registered in Lon- 

 don November 9. 1904; capital, ^Ti 5,000. in £1 shares. No 

 initial public issue. Registered office : 159, Cannon street, E. 

 C, London. 



= The Lanka Rubber Co.. Limited, has been registered at 

 Colombo to acquire about 344 acres of land in the Kalutara 

 district, near Ambatewne, Ceylon, and form a rubber planta- 

 tion. The nominal capital is 100,000 rupees [=$32,400], di- 

 vided into 1000 shares. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH RUBBER IN PORTO RICO. 



The annual report for 1904 of the secretary of agriculture of 

 the United States says, in relation to the Porto Rico experi- 

 ment station: "The tea, rubber, and cacao plantations men- 

 tioned in my last report are flourishing and are being extend- 

 ed." A recent letter to The India Rubber World from 

 Mayaguez, where the experimental station is located, says: 

 'Our plantation [rubber] consists of Castilloas mainly, with a 

 few Funtumias and Heveas, as well as some Ficus. and we hope 

 to start an experiment with Manihot Glaziovii on the dryer 

 portion of the island soon." 



RUBBER PLANTATION COMPANY PUBLICATIONS. 



Mexican Mutual Planters' Co., Chicago. = [Recorcl of work to date. 

 aid estimate of future results; illustrated.] 2S pages. Also: Bond- 

 holders' Meeting (at Chicago), September 17, iqo4, addressed by J. C. 

 Harvey, plantation manager. 16 pages. Also: The La Junta Planter, 

 August, 1904. 24 pages. 



Orizaba Rubber Plantation Co., Chicago =CA!Vi/<jj News, October, 

 1904. 12 pages. 



Isthmus Plantation Association of Mexico, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 

 = Inspector's Report, 1904 [by Wilmer .SiegJ. 43 pages 



Tobasco Plantation Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota.=(o) Wealth of the 

 Isthmus. [Relates to the plans and prospects of the company.] 64 

 pages; maps. (*) Facts and Conclusions. [Second Annual Inspector's 

 Report on the property and business of the company in Mexico.] 32 

 pages. 



Costa Rica Rubber Co., Los Angeles, California. = Report of John 

 A. Morion on the Properties of the Company [in Costa Rica]. 4 pages. 



Yaveo Plantation Co., St. Joseph, Missouri. = Bulletin No. 6, Decem- 

 ber 6, 1904. 4 pages. 



RUBBER EXPLOITATION IN PERU. 



THE British consul general in Peru, Mr. St. John, in his 

 latest annual report [August 9, 1904] says: "For the 

 purpose of developing the India-rubber districts, the Peruvian 

 government have greatly encouraged the construction of bridle 

 roads and trails. Irt his message to congress, on the opening 

 of the last session, the president of the republic claimed that 

 the total length of the bridle roads and of a cartroad which 

 were either under construction or contracted for was 1300 

 miles. The work is to be paid for by grants of land." 



Mr. St. John's report is accompanied by a report of the vice 

 consul at Arequipa, from which we quote as follows : 



" The attention of capitalists has also of late years been di- 

 rected to the districts of Carabaya and Sandia, where gold in 

 paying quantities has been found in the river beds. Also to 

 the regions of the upper Inambari and Madre de Dios, which 

 are very rich in tropical produce, of which India-rubber is the 

 most important. The Inca Mining Co., owners of the famous 

 'Santo Domingo 'mine in Carabaya, have secured from the 

 Peruvian government a grant of 2,000,000 acres of ground on 

 the Madre de Dios, on condition that they construct a good 

 cartroad from that district to Tirapata, a station on the South- 

 ern railway, 357 miles from Mollendo [on the Pacific coast]. 

 This cartroad is now approaching completion and will have a 

 total length of about 200 miles; it will serve to open out im- 

 mense tracts of ground abounding in rubber trees of the most 

 valuable kind. 



" Hitherto nearly all the rubber produced in that district has 

 been exported by way of Para, often taking from 6 to 8 months 

 in reaching that place. It is now possible to send produce 

 from the Inambari and Madre de Dios to Tirapata in 10 to 12 

 days, and thence to Mollendo in three days. It would natur- 

 ally be supposed that the best outlet for the produce of the 

 Inambari and Madre de Dios regions would be by way of those 

 rivers to their confluence with the Amazon, and thence to 

 Para ; owing, however, to intervening rapids extending in some 

 parts for hundreds of miles, and the difficulty of porterage, that 

 route has been found to be most difficult and expensive. The 

 best outlet is therefore over the Cordilleras by way of Tirapata 

 and Mollendo." 



The headquarters of the Inca Mining Co. are at Bradford, 

 Pennsylvania, at which place the annual meeting was held on 

 December 21, together with the annual meeting of the Inca 

 Rubber Co., an ofltshoot of the mining company, formed in 

 1903. with a capitalization of $1,000,000. The trail above re- 

 ferred to was reported to be almost finished. It is graded, 

 and equipped with a telephone line. The Inca Rubber Co. 

 have decided to purchase a steel steamboat for navigating the 

 rivers in the neighborhood of their concession. The officers 

 of the Inca Rubber Co. are : C. P. Collins, president ; Chester 

 W. Brown, manager ; Joseph Seep, J. T. Jones, J. B. Leonard, 

 L. E. Hamsher, W. R. Weaver, and W. W. Fell, directors. 



Another rubber exploiting company organized for working 

 in practically the same region is the Carabaya Rubber and 

 Navigation Co., with headquarters in New York, and reported 

 on in The India Rubber World October i, 1904 (page 11). 



DETERIORATION (>) OF PARA RUBBER. 



THE Rio Brazilian Review oi December 13 said : The ques- 

 tion of deterioration of rubber and its remedy is being 

 discussed at Pard, where a district tax of i milreis per kilo 

 [ = 11 or 12 cents per pound] is proposed to be levied on"ser- 

 namby Cameta." Sernamby Cametd is an inferior kind of 



