May 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



469 



ture, recently closed, was listened to with interest, but it con- 

 tained little of importance to the balata industry. Referring to 

 this subject he spoke as follows: 



"I have inspected several estates and small plantations of this 

 product, but nowhere have I found the necessary care and atten- 

 tion being given to the planted area. This is a great disappoint- 

 ment to me for the few trees I have seen properly attended to 

 prove, as might be expected, that this tree grows here as freely 

 and satisfactorily as in the Eastern Hemisphere." 



INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE 

 IMPORT.\TION OF P.\R.«i SEEDS. 

 Professor T. B. Harrison, Director of Science and Agriculture, 

 sent the following letter to the Government Secretary on January 

 28: "Sir: With reference to my letter of the 3rd April, 1912, 

 covering an indent on tlie government of the Straits Settlements 

 for the supply of 150,000 Para rubber seeds and your reply 

 thereto, of the 10th April, 1912, I now have the honor to report 

 that the germination results have not been quite as satisfactory 

 as in former years. The records are as follows : 

 Dates of receipt, No. of seeds No. of seeds Percentage of 

 1912. received. germinated. germination. 



October 24 7,844 4,276 S4.S 



November 7 20,676 12,960 62.7 



November 21 63,659 '48,170 75.7 



December 2 7,935 5,799 74.6 



December 5 51,813 24,451 47.2 



Total 151,927 95,656 62.9 



"The seeds received on December 2 were part of the shipment, 

 the bulk of which came to hand on November 21. These seeds 

 were left by the postal authorities at Trinidad, and thence were 

 eleven days longer than necessary in transit. In every case the 

 packing was all that could be desired, hence the lower average 

 rate of germination appears to have been due to defects latent in 

 the seeds when packed. These defects may have been caused by 

 the prolonged droughts which affected many parts of the tropics 

 in 1911 and 1912." 



The Assistant Government Secretary sent the following letter 

 to the Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements : "I am directed 

 by the Governor to transmit herewith, copy of a letter from the 

 Director of Science and Agriculture with regard to the Para 

 rubber seeds imported from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Singa- 

 pore, and to say that this government is fully satisfied with the 

 results, which show that these seeds can, by the method adopted 

 by the Straits Settlements Botanic Department, be cheaply sent 

 to the most distant places and yet give excellent germination 

 results." 



The annual report of the Institute of Mines and Forests, which 

 has just been published, raises many points of the greatest in- 

 terest to those engaged in the balata industry. One 

 matter that occasioned some difficulty was a point raised by 

 the Secretary, as to whether it is the duty of the institute to 

 take out warrants and arrest laborers, without using any discre- 

 tion and merely at the request of any employer ; if so, in case of 

 failing to prove the charge, and an action for damages is brought, 

 is the institute liable in any way? Mr. Payne held on this point, 

 of so much importance to employers, that as the institute acts as 

 the agent of the employer and engages employes out of monies 

 placed at its disposal by employers, it is its duty to proceed 

 against the breaker of the contract in the absence of some excep- 

 tionally complete and satisfactory explanation. When the services 

 have been embarked upon, however, the employe is also entitled 

 to claim the assistance and protection of the institute, and the in- 

 stitute is entitled to and should use discretion, and liability to an 

 action subsequently would depend upon the circumstances of 

 each case. 



The Secretary of the Institute wrote to the Government Secre- 

 tary with regard to an ordinance under which nothing excused 



a laborer for leaving his employment, not even sickness or the 

 absence of work, objecting to its injustice. Large gangs of men 

 had been sent to work on places improperly prospected, where 

 there was not sufficient work for half the number of men sent. 

 Laborers coming to town under these circumstances before the 

 expiration of the contract were liable to imprisonment, although 

 in some cases they had been at the grant six months without earn- 

 ing sufficient to repay advances. 



A letter was also sent to the government regarding better 

 means of communication with the upper reaches of the 

 Essequibo, a vital matter for the balata industry, suggesting an 

 overhead ropeway from a point below Waraputa Falls, to which 

 launches run in all seasons, to a point above King William Falls. 

 The power to work this, it was suggested, could be obtained from 

 the various falls met with en route. It was estimated that the 

 journey would then occupy 12 hours instead of 12 days as at 

 present. The government replied asking to be "furnished with 

 some information as regards the probable amount of traffic to be 

 dealt with at present and in future" and also with respect to "the 

 number of persons who would be benefited by such a scheme." 

 Nothing appears to have been done in the matter, since no con- 

 crete proposal has been put forward. 



With regard to the labor question, the report states "It is re- 

 gretfully to be put on record that the labor troubles, which were 

 acute during the period on which we last reported, have not by 

 any means subsided to normal conditions. When a system of 

 advances to laborers is practised, there will always be found ab- 

 sconding, and other irritating and annoying circumstances. The 

 mutual confidence that existed between capital and labor in the 

 past has not been fully restored. There is every reason to believe 

 however, that labor difficulties will be gradually overcome, and 

 that we shall soon see a change for the better in the relation ex- 

 isting between employers and employes." The institute statistics 

 sliow that the percentage of absconders contracted through the 

 institute, as indicated by the warrants issued, was 3.66 per cent, of 

 the number employed in the balata industry, as against 1.94 per 

 cent, in the mining industry, and 1.37 per cent, in other industries. 



THE BATAVIA RUBBER EXHIBITION OF 1914. 



The program just received of the 1914 International Rubber 

 Exhibition and Congress, at Batavia, show the latest arrange- 

 ments prospectively made. Opening September 8 and closing 

 October 10, the exhibition in this term of nearly five weeks will 

 give ample time for the study of the display, while its technical 

 interest will be largely concentrated in the Congress, lasting from 

 September 7 to September 12; particulars of which appeared in 

 the April issue of this journal. 



The exhibition will be divided into thirteen sections, where the 

 various exhibits will be properly grouped so as to shpw the 

 botany, cultivation, preparation and packing of rubber, in fact, all 

 its phases from the time it leaves the tree until it is ready for 

 market. The subsequent stages of washing, vulcanizing and 

 manufacturing are dealt with in a special section, confined to 

 manufactures ; with a view of both the crude rubber and the 

 finished product being shown. 



Other special sections include wild rubber and substitutes, 

 gutta-percha and balata. The literature of rubber, its commerce 

 and statistics are likewise under their respective heads. Applica- 

 tions for space should reach the General Secretary, Koningsplem, 

 Batavia, Java, by November 1, 1913. 



While the exhibition will undoubtedly do much by its inter- 

 national features, to attract those specially interested in crude 

 rubber, it will at the same time afford the American manufacturer 

 an opportunity of reaching with his products the teeming popula- 

 tions of the Far East. Java has a population of nearly 30 millions 

 and Sumatra three millions. Numerous visitors may be looked 

 for from other parts of the East, who would be possible, if not 

 actual, buyers of rubber goods. 



