Septembkr I, 1913] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



647 



Some Rubber Planting Notes. 



THE MALAYAN RUBBER INDUSTRY. 



IN view of tile present and pnjspective importance of the 

 Malayan rubber production, special interest attaches to 

 statistics on the subject, lately compiled by Mr. Lawton Brain, 

 Director of Agriculture of the l'"ederated Malay States. 



The growth of tlie industry is shown by tlie annexed 

 figures : 



STATISTICS (IK .\I .\I,AYA X ACREAGE .\ND YIELD. 



Arcii under Crop 



Years. Rul)l)er — acres. pounds. 



1906 S9.230 935,056 



1907 179.227 2.278.870 



1508 241,138 3.339,922 



1909 292.035 6.741,509 



1910 362.853 14.368.863 



1911 .542.877 24.904,043 



1912 621,621 42,462,401 



It will thus be seen that the increase of output has been far in 

 excess of that shown for acreage, representing per acre tor 

 1906 about 10 pounds, for 1911 about 50 pounds, and for 

 1912 aliout 70 pounds. 



.\n indication of the growing productiveness of the Malay 

 Peninsula is afforded by the fact that between 1911 and 1912 

 the acreage increased ■■diout 15 per cent, and tlic number of 

 workers about 12 per cent., while tlic output showed a gain 

 in quantity of 75 per cent. Tlic value w'ould seem to have 

 advanced from £6,000,000 in 1911 to i9,000,000 in 1912— a rise 

 of 50 per cent. Such a result is evidently due to working the 

 estates up to their productive capacity, and at the same time 

 as far as possible economizing the cost of labor. 



The relative importance of the area planted with rubber in 

 the various territorial divisions is shown as follows : Federated 

 Malay States, 399,197 acres; Straits Settlements, 94,263 acres; 

 Johore, 91,827 acres; Kelantan and Kedah, 34,837 acres; Treng- 

 ganu, 1,497 acres; total, 621.621 acres. .About two-thirds of the 

 area thus belongs to the Federated Malay States. 



Such are a few salient points of this interesting group of 

 statistics, which has been supplemented by another table, show- 

 ing the area under cocoanuts to be 60,997 acres, or about one- 

 tenth of that under rubber. 



PAHANG RUBBER CO.. LTD. (FEDERATED MALAY STATES). 



The report of the Watcrhousc C"o.. Ltd.. of Honolulu, agents 

 for the Pahang Rubber Co.. expresses the belief that the man- 

 ager's estimate of 140,000 pounds of rubber for this year's crop 

 will easily be attained. Last year's production was 60,138 pounds. 

 Attention is called to the natural advantages possessed by the 

 state of Pahang. which, should the labor question be solved, 

 would render the company's property one of the most productive 

 estates in the Malay Peninsula. 



PERAK RUBBER PLANTATIONS. LTD. (FEDERATED MALAY STATES). 



The report presented at the recent London meeting of this 

 company, shows that its area is now 2,045 acres, of which 1.299 

 are cultivated. During 1912, 640 acres were tapped, an average 

 of S}4 pounds each having been produced by 59,200 trees. 



For the year 1912 the cost f. o. b. had been Is. O'Ad. per pound, 

 as compared with Is. AVzd. for the previous year. A still further 

 reduction is looked for in the future. 



KUANG RUBBER PLANTATIONS (FEDERATED MALAY STATES), 



This company (which is under the control of the Societe 

 Financiere des Caoutchoucs) in its report for 1912, states that 

 the crop was 11,822 pounds. A yield of 64,500 pounds is esti- 

 mated for 1913. 



RUBBER IN BRITISH ADMIRALTY CONTRACTS. 



On a recent occasion Mr. Dcnman, M.P., asked a question in 

 the I'.ritish House of Commons affecting rubl)er. He inquired 

 from the Secretary to the Admiralty as to whether any contracts 

 with tliat department stipulated that the rubber used should 

 come from foreign sources, asking that such discrimination 

 should be avoided in future. 



In his reply, Dr. Macnamara said that the stipulation as to a 

 particular source was generally removed from Admiralty speci- 

 fications in 1897, the condition as to the. supply of Para rubber 

 being only retained in the case of some unimportant items. 



He added: "Our general stipulation is for pure caoutchouc, 

 irrespective of country of origin, and we will consider whether 

 there are still adeqiiate reasons for the retention of Para in the 

 few cases referred to." 



In a detailed report by Messrs. Clayton Beadle & Stevens, the 

 Rubber Growers' Association has put forward a number of ar- 

 guments in favor of plantation rubber, emphasizing the conten- 

 tion that manufacturers should have the option of using either 

 variety in .■\dmiralty and other government contracts. It is 

 urged that plantation smoked sheet rubbers not only satisfy the 

 claim for the highest class of material, but that the results ob- 

 tained are practically the same as those secured with hard Para. 

 l-"vcii if the figures are slightly lower, they satisfy the Admir- 

 ;illy tests. 



It is added that as plantation Para passes the rigorous tests of 

 the Knglish government, there is no reason for its exclusion 

 from specilications, particularly as it is a British-grown product. 



COMMITTEE OF RUBBER GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 



.\ representative committee was recently appointed by the 

 Rubber Growers' Association, London, to investigate the late 

 fall in the price of plantation rubber, as well as to report on the 

 possibility of arriving at some arrangement for protecting the 

 interests of producers. 



The committee includes: Mr. Xoel Trotter, Sir Edward Ros- 

 ling, Mr. .\rthur Lampard, Mr. Richard Magor and Mr. Her- 

 bert Wright. 



VALLAMBROSA RUBBER CO., LIU. (FEDEKATED MALAY STATES). 



.\n interesting report of this company's business was 

 presented at the ninth ordinary general meeting of share- 

 holders held on .August 7. Its position is historical, it being 

 among the oldest — if not in fact the oldest — of the success- 

 ful eastern companies, and having been registered early in 

 1904. 



The total extent planted under rubber is 3,346 acres, of 

 which 1,767 acres planted before 1910 were tapped during the 

 year ending March 31, 1913, while the remaining 1,579 were 

 planted in 1910, 1911 and 1912, and are not yet in bearing. 



Returns of the yields for the last seven years to March 31 

 show: 1906-7, 156,922 pounds: 1907-8, 225,302 pounds; 1908-9, 

 272,741 pounds; 1909-10, 371.316 pounds; 1910-11, 411.476 

 pounds; 1911-12, 409,880 pounds; 1912-13, 426,484 pounds. 

 The total cost of production and sale in 1912-13 was \s. 5.49rf. 

 per pound, while the net price realized was 3.f. 10.75d. per pound, 

 as compared with As. 8.12rf. for the previous year. 



Dividends have been for 1906-7, 55 per cent.; 1907-8, 55 per 

 cent.; 1908-9, 80 per cent.; 1909-10, 250 per cent.: 1910-11, 175 

 per cent.; 1911-12, 130 per cent.; 1912-13, 100 per cent. The 

 rate of dividend in 1909-10 was due to the exceptionally high 

 price of rubber. 



Three estates form the property of the company, situated in 

 the Kapar District, Klang, Selangor. Its progress is interesting 

 as showing the operation of an ol(l,cpjnpatiy. .,.|,| 



