THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October 1, 1912. 



■GERMAN VIEW OF MALAYAN RUBBER PRODUCTS. 



"PRICKER" TAPPERS FOR "CASTILLOA." 



■ I 'HE general question of Malayan rubber production bas 

 '■*• recently been dealt with by the German Imperial Consulate 

 'General at Singapore. Attention is drawn to the yields of 

 the last three years: 



Pounds. 



1909 7,461,070 



1910 14,569,307 



1911 23,954,144 



Between 1909 and 1910 there was thus an increase of about 

 100 per cent., while 1911 only showed an increase of 60 per 

 cent, as compared with 1910, the rate of augmentation being 

 slower, and the yield being 15 per cent, below the estimated 

 •quantity. 



A further increase for 1912 is indicated by the fact that for 

 the six months ending June 30, the exports from Malaya 

 amounted to 18,980.798 pounds, or at the rate of about 38 

 million pounds for the present year, as coinpared with 7^. 

 14,'/< and 24 million for the three preceding years. 



Leaving aside the consideration of the past and present, 

 and carrying on the figures up to 1916. the United States 

 <:onsuIar estimates, as shown below, acquire special interest: 



Pounds. 



1912 36,000,000 



1913 48,000,000 



1914 66.000,000 



1915 90,000,000 



1916 130,000,000 



While plenty of rubber is thus in sight from Malaya up to 

 1916, the yield after that date will naturally be more or less 

 affected by the policy now being followed as to new planting. 

 In this connection certain passages in the German consular 

 report are of interest. 



The fact that after the product had doubled between 1909 

 and 1910, the rate of increase for 1911 as compared with 

 1910 should have descended to 60 per cent, would imply that 

 ■special causes had been operative in retarding the develop- 

 ment of yield. 



On this subject the German report states: "The planta- 

 tions quickly recovered from the drought, but more than a 

 year will be required for the rubber industry to overcome 

 the hurtful influence of the 'boom' and to have established a 

 permanently sound financial basis. The number of planta- 

 tion companies founded during the 'boom,' which, owing to 

 ■over capitalization, unsuitable soil conditions, unskilful 

 planting, bad management, inaccessible location of the plan- 

 tations, or labor difficulties, were to be regarded in advance 

 as of deficient vitality, must be more than 100. But there are 

 also a number of old companies, with respect to which a 

 stoppage, or diminution of activity, has to be recorded, chiefly 

 ■on account of over-tapping the trees, or lack of capital. 

 From the last-named cause several plantation companies 

 have been forced into liquidation. 



"The planting of rubber in British Malaya has come to 

 a standstill. There are only a few large companies prepared 

 for further planting. With the others the necessary means 

 are lacking. The total yield will of course quickly increase, 

 as the young trees come into bearing. Well-managed com- 

 panies will in any case be able to report a steady increase 

 in their yields of rubber, if not of their dividends." 



These German official views are calculated to support the 

 ideas of those who consider the future Malayan production 

 as over estimated, in the figures which have been published 

 on the subject. 



Replete with information for rubber manufacturers: Mr. 

 Pearson's "Crude Rubber and Compounding Ingredients." 



A N exceedingly interesting experiment in Castilloa tapping 

 tools is shown in the accompanying illustration. The tool 

 is of the "pricker" type, designed to make a series of incisions 

 by being drawn down the tree, suitable pressure being exerted 

 by the grasp upon tlic handles. Four types of tool will be noted, 

 and much thouybt .•nid labor was put upon the device. It was 



V.\Rious TvpES OF "Pricker" T.\prERs. 



not wholly successful, partly because Castilloa Bark is so ex- 

 ceedingly tough, and partly because the rotary prickers made 

 a drawing incision, rather than a direct puncture. The designs 

 were made by the late J. B. Carruthers when he was in charge 

 of the Botanical Gardens in Trinidad, and are a souvenir of last 

 winter's visit to that island by the Editor of The India Rubber 

 World. 



DEATH OF A PIONEER MALAYAN RUBBER PLANTER. 



Through the premature death at the age of 42 of F. E. Pears, 

 of the Lanadron Estates, after an operation in London, Malaya 

 has lost one of its pioneer rubber planters. After a few years 

 passed in the family soap-inaking concern, he went to Malaya 

 in 1899, where he obtained a tract of land. This tract was 

 named Lanadron in remembrance of the Cornish village from 

 which the Pears family had originated. 



Commencing with the planting of 25 acres in 1899, the estate 

 had by the end of 1909 increased to 11,281 acres, of which nearly 

 half was under rubber. Mr. Pears developed the property from 

 its virgin state into a rubber plantation that has served as a 

 model for many later ventures. He pursued a policy of man- 

 agement which ran the estate ahead of most of its contempo- 

 raries and Lanadron rubber was recognized in the home markets 

 as a first-grade product from the beginning. All the improved 

 methods of sanitation and housing which the governments of 

 the Straits and the F. M. S. now insist upon, were carried into 

 effect by Mr. Pears on his own initiative years ago. Recogniz- 

 ing always the importance of an adequate and contented labor 

 force, his coolies were his first care. 



Mr. Pears' death is additionally to be deplored, occurring, as 

 it did. a few months after that of his brother, Thomas, in the 

 "Titanic" disaster. 



The accepted authority on South .American rubber — "The Rub- 

 l)cr Country of the .Amazon." by Henry C. Pearson. 



