July i 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



337 



SUNDRY CRUDE RUBBER INTERESTS. 



A FRHNCH RUBBER ASSOCIATION. 



THE French Comile du Commerce et de 1' Industrie de 

 rindo-Chine have taken the initiative in the formation 

 of a colonial rubber association, measures for completing 

 the organization of which were taken at a recent meet- 

 ing in Paris. The object is to lead to the utilization to the full- 

 est extent of the rubber resources of France and her colonies. 



The general plan for the association, presented by M. Andic 

 Spiic, related (1) to completing a catalogue of all the rubber 

 plants indigenous to the French colonies, with details as to 

 their distribution, rate of yield, and value of their products ; (2) 

 the study of methods of exploitation, with a view to arriving at 

 the largest possible profit from the exploitation of native trees ; 

 (3) the introduction of rubber culture, both of native and for- 

 eign species, based upon a study of the best cultural methods 

 yet developed in any country ; (4) the exerting of every proper 

 influence to induce the cooperation of local authorities in the 

 work here outlined ; and (5) a propaganda in France in behalf 

 of the use of colonial rubbers by the manufacturers of that 

 country, as a means of extending their consumption, together 

 with the establishment of a great French market for crude 

 rubber. 



M. Charles DutTart, of the Revue Commerciale (Bordeaux), was 

 surprised at the apparent ignoring of the rubber market already 

 existing at Bordeaux, where the imports had grown from 51 

 tons in 189S to 1 182 tons in 1904. He thought that, instead of 

 attempting to create a new market, efforts should be made to 

 acquaint consumers more fully with the advantages of buying 

 through Bordeaux, where a market had been created at great 

 effort and cost. Among things desirable to be done, according 

 to the Revue, would be to bring the French colonial banks "to 

 a more intelligent understanding of the commercial methods 

 of the Belgian, German, and English banks which facilitate the 

 negotiation of warehouse receipts for rubber, a practical busi- 

 ness measure too often despised by us or looked upon as evi- 

 dence of the embarrassment of the borrower." 



A GERMAN IDEA FOR BUYING RUBBER. 

 At a meeting of the German rubber manufacturers' asso- 

 ciation called last year to consider an advance in the price of 

 rubber goods, a director of a factory not a member of the soci- 

 ety submitted a proposition looking to the formation of a com- 

 mission for the purchase of crude rubber and other raw mate- 

 rials, to consist of five, of whom four should be members of 

 the Central Verein Deulscher Kautschukwaaren- Fabriken 

 (the manufacturers' association). The meeting refrained from 

 action on this proposition, which was referred to the directors 

 of the society. Afterward the proposer presented plans for a 

 purchasing commission in more detail, which may be summa- 

 ried briefly as follows ; 



He implied that, on account of the business standing of the 

 members of the society and the capital at their command, they 

 were in a position to take in hand an interest most vital to 

 their industry— the purchase of crude rubber in such large 

 quantities as to obtain it at prices corresponding to those paid 

 by dealers, and to become distributors at home and abroad to 

 non-members so as to dispose of any surplus purchases at a 

 profit. The buying of rubber would be conducted by a limited 

 liability company formed for the purpose ; it would not be nec- 

 essary for members of the Central Verein to belong to this 

 company, but those who desired to belong to the company 



must first become members of the Central Verein. The sharei 

 of individual factories in the purchasing company would be 

 regulated by their annual requirements of crude rubber. 



It would be the business of the purchasing company to form 

 satisfactory relations with the markets at Liverpool and Ma- 

 n.i )s, and eventually other points, and to create storage depots 

 at Hamburg and Antwerp, whence members would be informed 

 promptly of actual or prospective arrivals, and be supplied 

 with samples. The purchasing company would from the be- 

 ginning give close attention to the matter of rubber culture in 

 Ceylon and elsewhere, not with a view to establishing planta- 

 tions, but to watch for favorable chances to buy such as might 

 become productive. It was not intended that dealers in rub- 

 ber should altogether disappear, but the formation of this buy- 

 ers' union would from the outset prove a barrier against specu- 

 lation in crude rubber, and the union would be from the start 

 one of the most important of all rubber dealers, whose patron- 

 age would be sought by the producers of rubber. 



A FALLING OFF IN KASAI RUBBER. 



Our Brussels contemporary. La Chronique (oUmiale { \^x\\ 

 2), does not regard as particularly favorable the showing made 

 by the Compagnie du Kasai (the Kasai syndicate) for the fiscal 

 year ended December 31, 1904. although the company have an- 

 nounced an interim dividend of 50 francs for each one-tenth 

 part of a share, and La Chronique is assured that the further 

 dividend for 1904 will also be 50 francs, which will bring the 

 total disbursement for the year up to 1000 fiancs for each full 

 share. The company is constituted with 2010 shares — without 

 designation of value — which would make the dividend amount 

 to 2,010,000 francs [=$387 930]. The net profit for the year 

 amounts to 4,502.256 fiancs, but the disposition of the balance 

 is not referred to. 



The fiscal year of 1903 allowed of the distribution of a divi- 

 dend amounting to 750 francs per share, and the preceding 

 year a dividend of 250 francs. The Brussels paper says that 

 while the dividend for 1904 certainly denotes an apparently 

 prosperous condition, it would be wrong to infer that this con- 

 dition could not be better. There was a production in 1904 of 

 1 1 56 tons of rubber, against 965 tons in 1903, and only 265 tons 

 in 1902. In 1902, however, the Congo Free State reimbursed 

 the company, at the rate of 10 francs per kilo, to the extent of 

 1,000.000 francs in respect of certain rubber taken for account 

 of the Domaine privt', and this sum permitted the payment of 

 the dividend for 1902. 



It is pointed out that the collection of 1 1 56 tons last year was 

 materially less than that of the total harvest of the 14 com- 

 panies operating within the territories of the present Kasai 

 company before the organization of the latter. [For a list, see 

 The India Rubher World, July i, 1903— page 344.] This 

 harvest amounted to 1S50 tons for the fiscal year immediately 

 preceding the formation of the syndicate. The crop for the 

 last fiscal year is about 700 tons less than this figure. "If," 

 says La Chronique, "vie consider that this result was obtained 

 notwithstanding the exceedingly favorable privilege granted 

 by a decree issued in April ( 1904) permitting the company to 

 sell powder and guns it must be admitted that the activity in 

 the exploitation of the domain underthe Kasai company shows 

 retrogression." 



The cost price of rubber is not appreciably less than at the 

 time of the simultaneous exploitation by the 14 rival companies. 



