February i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



151 



rubber, the result of careless and hasty methods of tapping the 

 trees. A man who can tap 120 trees per day to yield " fine " 

 rubber will tap as many as 250 for sernamby Camet<1. Conse- 

 quently the latter is more popular, but spoils and quickly ex- 

 hausts the trees. In some districts, like Cameta, this has gone 

 so far that only sernamby Cametacan be obtained, and they are 

 hopeless, but there are others, especially in the islands, where 

 prompt measures might yet save a large number of trees. In 

 the state of Amazonas no" sernamby Cameta" is produced, but 

 any rubber showing defective smoking or preparation is classed 

 as sernamby. For the season 1903-04. exports of rubber from 

 Para [produced within the state] amounted to 1 1,586 tons, of 

 which 5460, or nearly 50 per cent., were sernamby. At Mandos, 

 out of the total of 10,907 tons exported, only 2009 tons, or less 

 than 20 per cent., were sernamby. 



A FAILURE IN RUBBER EXPLOITATION. 



AT the third annual general meeting of the Brazilian Rub- 

 ber Trust, Limited (London, December 12, 1904), the 

 reports presented showed a profit for the year ending Septem- 

 ber 30, after paying the debenture interest, of ;Cioo, reducing 

 the debit balance in the last balance sheet to ;^5232. This, 

 the chairman pointed out, showed that the company was turn- 

 ing the corner ; in other words, they had ceased to lose money. 



The smallness of this profit_ is particularly interesting when 

 it is recalled that this company represents what is left of the 

 Rubber Estates of Para, Limited, formed in 1898, with a capital 

 of ;r35o,ooo, to work estates with an area of over 284 square 

 miles, situated on the island of Marajo and acquired from the 

 Visconde de Silo Domingos, who had been working them for 

 many years. The number of full grown trees was estimated at 

 1,300,000, and during the three years before being taken over 

 by the English company the estates were declared to have pro- 

 duced an average of 250 tons of rubber yearly, of the gross 

 value in Europe or New Vork of ;£9o.ooo. The new company, 

 however, attained no such results. During the first year they 

 reported 8^4 tons of rubber, while in the second year 58 tons 

 were collected, to secure which ^23.000 were expended for the 

 single item of outfitting the rubber workers sent upon the es- 

 tates. Finally, the working capital of the company having be- 

 come exhausted, instead of dividends being realized, the com- 

 pany was reorganized September 28, 1901, as the Brazilian Rub- 

 ber Trust, Limited, with ;£37,5oo capital. 



In spite of every possible economy, money continued to be 

 lost, and two years ago it was decided not to remit any more 

 funds to Brazil, but to lease the estates to a Brazilian firm with 

 a direct interest in economy. The highest rent obtainable was 

 50,000 milreis per year [=about $12,500. with exchange at 12(/.,] 

 with an arrangement that if rubber rose above the price then 

 ruling at Pard [6.;. 6(/. per kilogram = 71^/ cents per pound]^ 

 the company were to have a small percentage. The best show- 

 ing that the company has thus far been able to make is that 

 it has ceased to lose money, and the directors hope that 

 upon the expiration of the lease some two years hence, they 

 will be able to secure a larger yearly rental. 



The history of this enterprise has been reported very fully in 

 The India Rubber World. In the issue of October i, 1902 

 (page 5), Mr. Ashmore Russan, a director in the company both 

 in its old and its new form, pointed out at length the disadvan- 

 tages under which estates in the Amazon valley were worked 

 under foreign management. In that issue he declared his be- 

 lief that the Sao Domingos estates had actually produced the 

 amount of rubber claimed, and that the reported number of 

 trees actually existed. And at the late meeting in London, the 



chairman stated that they had reached the conclusion that Eu- 

 ropean management was a delusion, and that the only hope is 

 in forming connections with responsible Brazilian parties. 



Space is given to these details, not for the purpose of dis- 

 couraging any branch of rubber exploitation, but for the rea- 

 son that they illustrate forcibly the difficulties of securing rub- 

 ber from natural sources, which tend to keep up the high cost 

 of the product to consumers. The result of the English con- 

 trol of the estates referred to evidently is that the rubber 

 workers formerly employed there have transferred their ac- 

 tivity to new fields, where their employment by native firms no 

 doubt has yielded good profits, in view of the prevailing high 

 prices of rubber. 



AFRICAN RUBBER TRADING PROFITS. 



THE report of the Societe anonyme Beige pour le Com- 

 merce du Haut-Congo — the second oldest of the Bel- 

 gian companies trading on the Congo — for the business 

 year 1903 showed net profits of 737.140.43 francs [ = $142,. 

 268.10], the total capital being 5,050,000 francs [ = $974,650], 

 which works out at nearly 15 per cent, earned on the capital. 

 In former years, however, the earnings have been much larger, 

 amounting in 1899, for example, to 2,273,821 francs [ = $438.- 

 847.45], O"" approximately 45 percent, on the capital. The com- 

 pany's preference shares have been quoted at about the same 

 figures for years, but the ordinary shares have declined sharply 

 from the highest figures reported in this Journal, as follows : 



Preferred. Ordioary. 



January, igoi francs per share 527.50 2960 



December, 1004 527 1237 



The last business report refers to a decline in the company's 

 production of Caoutchouc, which reached only 74 tons in 1903. 

 [While statements by the company are not now available, it may 

 be said that THE India Rubber World reported the arrival 

 at Antwerp during 1901 of 330 tons of rubber for account of 

 the Societe Beige du Haut-Congo.] The report states : "This 

 falling ofT has been caused notably by the position taken by 

 the natives along the banks of the Lomela. Every effort has 

 been made to increase this output, and at present the company 

 possesses in the Bussira district 17 trading posts." 



The net profits of the company were due less to its direct 

 operations than to participation in the profits of the Cie. du 

 Lomani and the Cie. du Kasai. In the latter it holds 340 

 shares, which yielded during the year 750 francs per share, or 

 255,000 francs [=$45,215]. The Kasai syndicate is capitalized 

 in 2010 shares, without designation of value. At 750 francs 

 per share, the total net earnings of the Kasai for the year 

 would be 1.507,500 francs [=$290,947.50]. 



STILL LOSING, BUT HOPEFUL, COMPANY. 



The report of the fourth business year of the Gesellschaft 

 Nordwest-Kamerun (Berlin) reveals a lack of profits, in spite of 

 the increased receipts of rubber, palm kernels, and ebony, 

 which result is set down to the expenses incurred in suppress- 

 ing an uprising of the natives in the Anyang district, in Kame- 

 run. The rubber plantation at Abonando suffered from want of 

 attention by reason of the revolt. The company have complied 

 already with their obligation to expend, within 10 years, 3,000,- 

 000 marks in the development of their concessions. The ex- 

 portation of rubber during the year amounted to 43,829 kilo- 

 grams, worth 145.000 marks. The loss account amounted, at 

 the end of the fourth year, to 625,834 marks, but the company 

 possessed valuable assets, they had established 27 trading 

 stations, and 1.440.000 of the 4,000,000 marks capital remained 

 to be called up ; the management, therefore, still had hopes for 

 the future. 



