512 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 1, 1914. 



Some Rubber Planting Notes. 



DISECT RUBBER SHIPMENTS FROM MALAYA TO NEW YORK. 



INTEREST has been manifested in Malaya as to the permanence 

 of the service between Port Swettenham and New York, in- 

 augurated at the end of March by the steamer Indradeo. In dis- 

 cussing this subject the "Malay Mail" remarks that if the ad- 

 vantages of direct shipments are as great as represented certain 

 of the plantation companies will doubtless be found anxious to 

 avail themselves of this method of getting their rubber to New 

 York. With the increasing Malayan production, any means of 

 broadening the market would be of great value. 



POSSIBLE REDUCTION IN F. M S. RUBBER EXPORT DUTY. 



.\ rumor current in the Federated Malay States is to the ef- 

 fect that the government is considering a proposal for a reduc- 

 tion in the present rate of rubber export duty (now 2^ per 

 cent,), whenever the article falls below ,i certain price. 



RUBBER SECTION AT PENANG CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 



In the May issue (page 451) the establishment of the "Singa- 

 pore Chamber of Commerce Rubber Association" was referred 

 to. A similar association is reported to have been formed at 

 Penang, though that port only shipped last year about 20 per 

 cent, of the total from Malaya, against about 40 per cent, each 

 from Singapore and Port Swettenham. 



COLOMBO AND SINGAPORE IKE FUTURE RUBBER MARKETS. 



At the last meeting of the Chersonese (F. M. S.) Estates, Ltd., 

 Mr. Noel Trotter, tlie chairman, dwelt on the present tendency 

 to sell rubber in the East which might otherwise come to Lon- 

 don, and thus avoid the heavy charges at that port. These con- 

 ditions would accelerate the arrival of the time when Singapore 

 and Colombo would become, as he believed they would, the 

 most important rubber markets of the world. This question 

 would, he anticipated, have to be dealt with by the sterling com- 

 panies when their financial conditions become more settled. 



A PAPUAN PLANTER ON RUBBER. 



Mr. Carl Ettling, manager of the Dedele plantation, East Cen- 

 tral Division, Papua, recently visited Ceylon, spending a short 

 time at Peradeniya. The special object of his visit was to ob- 

 tain information about a root fungoid disease of the coconut 

 palm, which had appeared in Papua. 



He stated that while there are a few thousand acres in Papua 

 under Para rubber, planters have gone in more for coconuts. 

 Rubber has done well, however, on the Seguera plantation opened 

 by Mr. Ballantyne. retired treasurer of Papua, about seven 

 years ago. The plantation is at an elevation of about 2,400 feet, 

 tile trees showing a wonderful growth, and being interplanted 

 with coffee. Coconut cultivation seems to be in the ascendant 

 in Papua 



SYSTEMATIC TROPICAL AGRICULTURE. 



In commenting upon the fact that the development of sys- 

 tematic agriculture was earlier in temperate regions than the 

 tropics, the •'Journal of the Jamaica .'Vgricultural Society" re- 

 marks that more has become known within the last few years 

 as to the cultivation, tapping and curing of rubber than was ever 

 known before. 



While the closest attention has been paid to Para rubber, there 

 is little definitely known about the Castilha tree, processes of 

 tapping it being of an e.Kperiniental character. 



CEYLON COMPANY REGISTRATION. 



The report of the Registrar General of Ceylon for the period 



from July 1, 1912, to December 1, 1913, shows the registration 

 within the period named of 23 companies, with an aggregate 

 capital e(|ualling $6,576,300. .\t the date of the report, 221 com- 

 panies were on tlie register, of which six were in process of 

 liquidation. 



Applications were received during the period named for the 

 registration of 192 trade marks in 238 classes. Of these 168 

 were granted. 



DUNLOPS INVESTIGATING CEYLON CONDITIONS. 



A group representing the Dunlop Rubber Co., including 

 Messrs. Worthington (technical expert of the company), Hughes 

 and Moesinger, recently passed several weeks in Ceylon. Their 

 object was to learn how rubber was prepared. Before leaving 

 for home they expressed the opinion that the less rubber was 

 treated the better. In Mr. Hughes' view, were it possible to 

 obviate the treatment of the article (practised largely to secure 

 the higher price obtainable for clean rubber) it would be pos- 

 sible to get a fairly standard quality. 



With regard to the company's estate at Bibile, they are not 

 going to install machinery until quite certain of what is 

 wanted. As to the various patent methods of curing, Mr. Hughes 

 expressed satisfaction with the rubber turned out, but he was 

 dubious as to their capacity for dealing with the production of 

 large estates of, say, a couple of thousand acres or so. 



The Dunlop company has opened a branch at 14 Baillie street, 

 Colombo, where a stock of tires as well as of golf balls will be 

 carried. 



ASSISTANT RUBBER EXPERT FOR CEYLON, 



.\t a recent conference, held at Colombo, of local members 

 of tlie Rubber Growers' Association, the Rubber Research Com- 

 mittee and certain government experts, it was decided to bring 

 out a physiological botanist to help Mr. K. Marsden in rubber 

 research. This decision was reached on the suggestion of 

 Mr. R. N. Lyne, Director General of Agriculture. 



EDWARD VALENTINE CAREY. 



Much regret has been expressed at the death in England of 

 Edward Valentine Carey, formerly of Ceylon, but for more than 

 20 years interested in the Carey and Jugra estates, two prom- 

 inent Straits companies, of which he was the chief promoter. 



COMPARISON BETWEEN CEYLON AND STRAITS CONDITIONS. 



In a comparison between the present situation of rubber culti- 

 vation in Ceylon and Malaya, Mr. Joseph Fraser, the well-known 

 visiting agent, has reported that the best yields he found in 

 1913 w-ere in the F. M. S., where two fields aggregating 1345'$ 

 acres gave respectively 740 and 631 pounds per acre. The aver- 

 a.ge yield of the estate was 418 pounds per acre, produced at a 

 cost of 7 pence sterling (14.19 cents) per pound; this being the 

 lowest cost he knew of in the F. M. S., which fact he com- 

 mended to the notice of Ceylon planters. In this calculation no 

 allowance is made for upkeep of immature areas and capital 

 expenditure. 



DUTCH PLANTER DISCOVERS PROCESS OF RESTORING TACKY RUBBER. 



A process has been discovered by Mr. J. Kooij, an assistant 

 at the Branggah Banaran rubber estate, near Wlingi (Java), 

 for restoring tacky rubber to its normal condition. The sam- 

 ples are being sent to Professor Iterson of the laboratory at 

 Delft (Holland), to find whether they are vulcanizable. 



