190 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Januarv 1, 1913. 



place. The point at which the seller's responsibility ends and 

 that of the buyer commences, should also be defined, as well 

 as the mode of settlement. 



Since all contracts are not carried out, it is a wise precaution 

 to stipulate the course to be pursued, in the event of violation 

 by one or other of the parties. 



Rubber purchases include two forms : "spot'' and import trans- 

 actions. In the former the chief risk is a difTerence between 

 the samples and the bulk of actual rubber, at New York, London, 

 Liverpool, Antwerp or other central points. Forward rubber 

 contracts, on the other hand, are based on standard Classifications, 

 in accordance with which the importers agree to make certain 

 deliveries, in New York or at the mills. Such business whether 

 for early or deferred delivery needs the safeguard of a contract, 

 protecting alike buyer and seller. 



The principal features of the Standard Rubber Contracts for 

 forward orders, adopted by Liverpool and London, include de- 

 tailed provisions as to the three points of Tendering, Inspection 

 and Arbitration. In addition to these, the question of the shrink- 

 age is a serious one for manufacturers. It has a parallel in the 

 case of wool, where in some cases the importers guarantee a 

 maximum rate of loss. The silk trade affords an instance of the 

 moisture being adjusted. The importance of this question to the 

 rubber industry is indicated by the quicker time in which rubber 

 now reaches New York, and the larger percentage of moisture 

 it now contains, than was formerly the case. 



Attention has been paid in Europe to the question of standard 

 grades of plantation rubber, to which planters would conform. 

 Forward orders extending over 1913 have largely been for well- 

 known grades of plantation rubber ; the more general adoption 

 of this system having been suggested. The Silk Association of 

 America, among others, has given attention to tlie question of 

 forward contracts. 



The chief points to be covered in arrangements regarding 

 standard rubber contracts would be as follows : 



1. The seller draws up. signs and sends a contract to the buyer, 

 stating conditions of sale. Formerly, silence on the part of the 

 buyer was taken to mean acceptance of the contract, but it was 

 found that misunderstanding resulted, and now it is the uniform 

 custom for the seller to send to the buyer two signed contracts. 

 one of which he keeps and one of which he returns with his 

 acceptance written thereon. 



2. Any objection to the terms expressed in this contract must 

 be made immediately upon receipt, and any changes must be in 

 writing, signed by both parties. 



3. Provisions should be made for delays in transportation. If 

 the rubber is shipped by a steamer due to arrive at port of desti- 

 nation within the contract period, buyer must accept delayed 

 delivery upon receipt of proof of sailing and cause for delay. 



4. If any part of the rubber is lost at sea, contract to be voided 

 for that portion. 



5. The rubber becomes the purchaser's property as soon as it 

 leaves the seller's hands, the buyer paying the freight and cartage. 



6. Seller's responsibility for goods in transit ceases when they 

 pass into the hands of the transporting company. Stealage or 

 other loss while en route is at the buyer's risk. 



7. If shipment is questioned as to quality, and if bought by 

 sample, this is compared, and in case of dispute (to be decided 

 by arbitration), the losing party to pay the costs of arbitration. 



8. The buyer is not allowed to select the good and reject the 

 bad from any lot ; he must take all or none. 



9. If the seller fails to make delivery on or before the last 

 ■week-day of the month specified, and no proof is offered that 

 the delay was from causes beyond seller's legal control, the buyer 

 can enter the open market and purchase, charging any loss to 

 the seller. 



The fair-minded seller means to deliver what he has bargained 

 to supply, and the honest buyer means to accept and pay for 

 what he agrees upon. It only remains therefore, to find and 



agree upon fair and equitable terms and conditions which will 

 prevail and become known the world over, as the usual basis 

 upon which rubber is bought and sold. 



FARMING BY DYNAMITE. {Abslraci.) 

 By Harold Hatitcl Smilli, liditor of "Tropica! Life." 



\Y7HILE the author had long suspected the possibilities of ex- 

 "' plosives in connection with agriculture, it is only within 

 tlie last year that he has been able to demonstrate how very useful 

 dynamite (and the other "ites") can prove for that purpose, when 

 used with discretion, by natives or Europeans. Any race, suffi- 

 ciently intelligent to tap rubber trees, could, in his opinion, be 

 trained to handle these explosives, under the same class of white 

 direction as with rubber tapping. 



For twenty or thirty years past, farmers in the western states of 

 America have regularly blasted their ground, and thereby obtained 

 bumper crops, while leading journals have opened their columns 

 to a discussion of the matter. 



Dynamite, or another explosive if more suitable, can be ad- 

 vantageously used in agricultural industries for the following 

 purposes : 



1. To break up hard or virgin soil, particularly the under crust, 

 which no ordinary plough could penetrate. 



2. To blast out boulders, rocks and tree stumps. leaving the 

 ground in a state to be eas^y and properly ploughed. 



3. To clean the soil of pests, and destroy ants' nests or rabbit 

 warrens, and to regenerate and aerate hard or worn out soils gen- 

 erally, such as West Indian soil which is not ploughed, but only 

 hoed : the hard-pan sub-soil being left till it becomes waterlogged 

 and dangerous. 



4. For throwing up soil for drains, especially deep gullies, to be 

 removed by hand plough. 



5. For making holes for tree planting, and loosening tlie soil for 

 fence post holes. 



6. For well-boring, or well torpedoing, the latter being for the 

 purpose of increasing the flow from an artesian well. 



Doubtless other uses will be found for explosives in connection 

 with estates, the author referring to their use for removing 

 masses of rock or soil for making estate roads. The latter, it is 

 added, is too big and dangerous a work for the average planter, 

 and should not be carried out without consulting an expert. The 

 use of explosives in connection with mining is referred to as a 

 separate branch of the subject. 



\\'hile explosives advantageously supplement ploughing, they do 

 not obviate the necessity of the latter. As the "Queensland Agri- 

 cultural Journal" remarks, the plough must be used just as ever; 

 the only difference bein.g that dynamite expends its disintegrating 

 force in the sub-soil, which is never touched by the plough, so 

 that one is not merely planting the crops in the same soil year 

 after year. By the use of dynamite the crops are enabled to draw 

 up their nutriment from below, the clay strata being broken up 

 and the accumulated and stagnant water being allowed to pass 

 through. .\t the same time myriads of harmful lives are de- 

 stroyed. 



.\nother point of importance is the need of a regular adequate 

 supply of water at all times, if good crops are looked for, in order 

 to enable the plant food to nourish the trees or plants. This 

 point is one of the advantages of farming by dynamite. This 

 last named principle, as the "World's Work," of London, lately 

 wrote, "has gripped the United States and is speeding through 

 Canada like a prairie fire." 



The Queensland ".Vgricultural Journal" has recently published 

 various practical details as to the system. The "Times of Cey- 

 lon" has also dealt with the matter, with special reference to the 

 trial of the plan by a Kelani Valley rubber planter. The editor 

 of "Grenier's Rubber News," of Kuala Lumpur, lately wrote that 

 the consensus of opinion, at least among planters of the Federated 

 Malay States, is that clean clearing, which means the removal of 



