Septembejt 1, 1911.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD. 



481 



By unanimous resolution, it was decided to issue shares to 

 bona-lide applicants, who would otherwise have been sufferers. 

 It is understood that 10 per cent, of the amount misapplied has 

 been refunded, There are expectations of getting back in all 

 30 to 40 per cent. For the purpose of covering the losses in- 

 curred and providing for various liabilities, the issue of de- 

 bentures up to $75,000 gold, was decided upon by a majority 

 of 19 to 5. 



THREE VIEWS OF THE RUBBER SITUATION. 



In quoting a Brazilian report indicating the officially admitted 

 necessity of Federal and State co-operation, for the relief of the 

 rubber crisis, the "Panama Star" lately enunciated the view "that 

 the big rubber manufacturing interests, particularly in America, 

 have the whip hand, and may succeed in smashing the market to 

 the extent that rubber will be available at somewhat near a fair 

 price at all seasons of the year." 



During a recent interview with a representative of the "Times 

 of Ceylon," Mr. W. E. Byles, of W. E. Byles & Company, New 

 York, expressed the opinion that American manufacturers have a 

 good deal of rubber in stock, and were convinced they would get 

 rubber a good deal cheaper by waiting. Regarding business gen- 

 erally, he considered America is in a strong position, and may 

 expect a trade revival before very long, in which rubber should 

 share. 



The letter of Mr. A. S. Paxendah, a Singapore rubber estate 

 valuer and expert, published in the London "Times," reports as 

 follows : 



"Having sought the views of rubber manufacturers and others 

 in the trade, I have found the opinion is strongly held that the 

 average price during the next five years will not be below 3s. 6d. 

 ($0,879 gold). 



"It is, however, added that before any vast increase in demand 

 takes place, manufacturers must be convinced that the price of 

 rubber is not to be subject to quick and large fluctuations." 



RUBBER IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



W'liile the potential importance of British East Africa (as 

 the "Daily Mail" of London remarks) lies in its unequaled range 

 of altitude and climate, the tropical coast belt, though far from 

 healthy, is remarkably fertile. No traveler on the railway can 

 fail to be struck by the number of young rubber plantations 

 springing up, while cocoanut and its by-products do extremely 

 well, by reason of the coral subsoil. The coast belt, while it has 

 excellent prospects, is, however, unsuited for colonization, in con- 

 nection with which the real future of the protectorates is said to 

 lie in the Highlands, with an altitude of 5,000 to 8,000 feet. 



GERMAN WEST AFRICA RUBBER CULTIVATION. 



Some interesting statements by Mr. .'\. Strauss, manager of an 

 extensive rubber and cocoa estate in the Cameroons, who 

 recently visited the East, have attracted attention. German enter- 

 prise is said to have done much for that part of. Africa, since the 

 colony came under white rule in 1884. Ten years since, planters 

 began the cultivation of Funtumia Elastica, but some four years 

 ago they took up Hevea. The 25,000 acres now planted with rub- 

 ber are one-half in each of the above named descriptions. 



.Vbout 72 tons of plantation rubber have, up to the present, been 

 exported from German West Africa, but a much larger export is 

 anticipated for 1912. At the same time the rubber output from 

 that quarter would, Mr. Strauss considered, for some years, have 

 no effect on the world's supply. In some of the German West 

 African colonies good forest rubber is being obtained, but the 

 production is going back every j'ear. Labor, he added, con- 

 stitutes the principal difficulty to be met. 



"THE" BARBADOS, RUBBER AND BALATA. 



An esteemed contemporary publishes the following under 

 the heading "Rubber and Balata" : "These two products showed a 

 slight falling off last year in the Barbados, though tlie market 

 price for rubber was high. This shortage of output may be due 



to accidental causes, as the cultivation of rubber and balata is 

 being encouraged both by systematic investigations by the agri- 

 cultural societies and by government aid and outside capital. 

 New companies have been formed, which indicates a large acces- 

 sion of capital to the cultivation. It is safe to predict that the 

 next few years will show a much larger proportion of the ex- 

 ports of the colony from these two sources." — Dept. Labor and 

 Commerce. 



First, don't say the Barbados, unless you are willing to say 

 the Cuba, the Jamaica, etc. Next, there are but three rubber 

 trees in Barbados and they have to be coaxed to continue liv- 

 ing. There never was any balata there. No cultivation of either 

 rubber or balata is even remotely thought of. Soil and climate 

 are not adapted, and — did that come from the Department of 

 Commerce and Labor anyhow? 



RUBBER PLANTING INVESTMENT IN VERA CRUZ. 



William W. Canada, United States Consul at Vera Cruz, 

 Mexico, says : "The amount of American capital now invested 

 in this industry, and in this consular jurisdiction, is a matter of 

 conjecture only. The money invested by shareholders in the 

 United States in rubber plantation schemes cannot be less than 

 ten million dollars in gold. The amount actually employed in 

 planting rubber, however, is quite another matter. It is my 

 opinion that five hundred thousand dollars gold would about 

 represent the sum actually employed in tree planting and culti- 

 vation. 



"One of the reasons for this discrepancy between stocks sold 

 and money invested in planting rubber is that, when it became 

 evident to a number of companies that tried to raise rubber that 

 their enterprises had resulted in failures, some of the companies 

 diverted their capital into other channels, as, for instance, the 

 planting of sugar-cane, sugar-making, and the production of 

 alcohol." 



[We should doubt the $10,000,000 investment in the State of 

 Vera Cruz, and for a guess would hazard the actual expenditure 

 of about $2,000,000 in real rubber planting there. But we are 

 guessing just as the consul is. — The Editor.^ 



SUMATRA EXCELLENT FOR HEVEA. 



The ideal land for growing rubber is an undulating and largely 

 self-drained alluvial deposit, of an elevation of from 100 to 300 

 ft. above sea level. Upon the East Coast of Sumatra is, per- 

 haps, the most ideal spot in the world for Hevea rubber planta- 

 tions. In the first place, you have from the Simpang Kiri River 

 in the northeast, to Rokan Kiri River on the same coast, about 

 300 miles south, a splendid undulating territory, marvelously 

 drained, and, at the same time, irrigated by dozens of small 

 rivers. You have an almost continual rainfall spread over the 

 year; you are sheltered from all the great winds on the western 

 side by the spine of mountains, which run the whole way from 

 north to south of the island ; and from the east you are protected 

 by the Malay Peninsula ; and then you have a large and indus- 

 trious local population, and, close, handy, a further population 

 of over 30,000,000 people in Java, under the same government, 

 which is always prone to assist a company, whether English or 

 Dutch, in the development of its estate. — The Malay Mail. 



RUBBER FROM SOUTHERN BRAZIL. 



In the official report on the trade of the consular district of 

 Rio de Janeiro for the year 1910 and part of the year 1911, the 

 British Vice-Consul at Cuyaba (Mr. John L. H. Atkinson) says: 



Rubber continues to be the most important article of export 

 from this State. Concessionaires sent their men into the woods 

 fully a month earlier than is the custom, but the increase in the 

 quantity exported only shows a slight advance upon previous 

 years. It is remarkable to note that during the "boom," when 

 a great number of rubber companies were floated on the British 

 market, not even an inquiry, as far as I can ascertain, was made 

 by British capitalists for lands in this State. I am of the 

 opinion that under skilful management and with well-organized 



