July 1, 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



569 



the bulk of the tapped area still in its first or second year of 

 bearing, should be considered very creditable. Costs in Sumatra 

 are always quoted in guilders (40 cents gold) against costs in 

 Malaya in Straits dollars (56 cents gold). Enormous new tracts 

 of land have been opened up in Sumatra — at least 700,000 acres 

 in the last ten years. Practically all of this extension has taken 

 place where there are neither roads nor railroads, and these are 

 now having to be built, entailing increasing expenses to the Gov- 

 ernment of the Dutch Indies and the necessity for enforcement of 

 a drastic income tax, which it is said is to be still further heavily 

 increased. This tax is only now being felt by the companies, 

 whose estates have not heretofore been productive or earning 

 any income. Moreover, the land in Sumatra is not owned by the 

 plantation companies, being leased from the Government by 

 registered Dutch companies only, and for a term of seventy-five 

 years, at a rental averaging about 1 guilder (40 cents gold) per 

 acre per year, beginning at about one-half of this amount and 

 taking live years to reach the maximum. This is a condition 

 which is hardly likely to tempt large investments of capital. 



I hear that renewed interest is being taken by American 

 cocoanut oil consumers in cocoanut planting. May I be permit- 

 ted to endorse the word of warning issued by the British Gov- 

 ernment against fraudulent and unduly speculative concerns out 

 here. Cocoanuts can no longer be planted cheaply, as in the 

 past, as shown in an article which appeared about the middle 

 of March last in the London "Financier," which gave the real 

 cost of cocoanut planting. There are very few cocoanut estates 

 owned by Europeans in the Middle East, and none of any im- 

 portance are for sale. The bulk of the cocoanuts planted in the 

 Middle East are owned by native squatters in small patches, 

 who have no transferable titles ; and any attempt to sell a cocoa- 

 nut estate should have the fullest investigation. 



STHAITS SETTLEMENTS RUBBER EXPORTS. 



A cable received by the Malay States Information Agency 

 from the Colonial Secretary, Singapore, states that the export 

 of plantation rubber during the month of May amounted to 

 1.309 tons, as compared with 1.548 tons in April last and 814 

 tons in the corresponding month last year. 



The total export to the end of May is 7,026 tons against 4,001 

 tons for the first five months of last year. 



The following table gives the comparison, month by month, 

 for three years : 



1912. 1913. 1914. 



January tons 253 784 1.181 



February 274 743 1.703 



March 427 898 1,285 



April 387 762 1.548 



May 431 814 1.309 



Total 1,772 4,001 7,026 



These figures mclude transshipments of rubber from various 

 places in the neighborhood of the Straits Settlements, such as 

 Borneo, Java, Sumatra and the non-Federated Malay States, as 

 well as rubber actually exported from the Colony, but do not 

 include rubber exports from the Federated Malay States. 



IMPORTS OF MOTOR VEHICLES TO STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 



According to a German Consular Report, the imports of bi- 

 cycles, motor vehicles and parts represented in 1912, $1,947,(XX), 

 against $1,438,000 in the previous year. 



RUBBER FROM THE EUPHORBIA TIHUCALLI. 



This tree grows in most of the valleys of \atal. within forty 

 or fifty miles of the coast ; its latex being said to contain from 12 

 to 15 per cent, of rubber and an average of 74 per cent, of resin. 

 When extracted the rubber is reported to be worth 80 per cent, 

 of the price of Para rubber. 



CAPITAL INVESTMENTS IN RUBBER IN NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. 



The subjoined table reproduces in .\merican currency the fig- 

 ures quoted in the "Exhibition Guide Book," showing the distri- 

 bution of investments. 



Java. 



Dutch $4,496,080 



British 28,200,200 



Belgian and French 7,216,800 



German 460,000 



Swedish 



.American 



Sumatra. 



$9,230,680 



23.078,800 



3,112,000 



38,400 



74.200 



6,000,000 



Riouw. 



$1,642,520 

 200,000 



Borneo. 

 $600,000 $14 

 4,288,720 57 

 10, 



400,000 



Total. 

 3J6.760 



210,240 

 ,528,800 

 498,400 

 74,200 

 400,000 



Total $40,373,080 $41,534,080 $2,242,520 $4,888,720 $89,038,400 



AREA OF CULTIVATED RUBBER IN THE DUTCH EAST INDIES. 



The subjoined table shows a total of 462,510 acres under rubber 

 cultivation in Dutch East India, of which 442,192 are in private 

 hands and 20,318 belong to the government. This area is distri- 

 buted as follow^s : 



Java. Other islands. Total. 



Private ownership acres 217,696 224,496 442,192 



Government ownership 19,502 816 20,318 



Total 237,198 225,312 462,510 



PLANTATION COMPANIES IN 1914, 



Returns from 17 companies in the Straits, Java and Sumatra 

 show the following aggregates for January, 1914, as compared 

 with January, 1913 : Straits, 9 companies, 702,343 pounds against 

 560,257 pounds; Java, 4 companies, 241,097 pounds against 157,- 

 670; Sumatra, 4 companies, 1,320,459 pounds against 667,733 

 pounds. 



Taken in separate groups the rate of increase is : Straits, 25 

 per cent. ; Java, 53 per cent. ; Sumatra, 97 per cent. 



NETHERLANDS RUBBER FREIGHTS. 



Complaints have been made by the Amsterdam Rubber Trade 

 Association because of the heavy freight charges of the steam- 

 ship companies running from Netherlands India to Europe and 

 from the Netherlands to the United States. The high cost of 

 transportation to America via Holland is encouraging the move- 

 ment for a direct service. 



The reduction of llj. ($2.68) per ton on rubber from the 

 Straits Settlements to London (effected through the action of 

 the Rubber Growers' Association) is quoted in support of the 

 movement for a reduction in the freight from Netherlands-India. 



According to the report of the Soekaboemi Agricultural 

 Association, the rubber production of Java for 1913 is esti- 

 mated at 3,000 tons, against 1,500 tons for 1912. 



The list of prizes to be awarded at the Batavia Rubber 

 Exhibition to be held next September is constantly growing. 

 In addition to the large solid silver cup offered by Mr. Pear- 

 son, the editor of The Indi.a Rubber World, for the best 

 system of extracting gutta-percha, a cup will be offered by 

 the Executive Committee of the Congress for the best col- 

 lective rubber exhibit. Prizes will also be offered by the 

 Rubber Growers' Association of Malaya, "Grenier's Rubber 

 News," and by a number of individuals, for excellence in 

 various departments of rubber growing and manufacture. 



Exports of rubber from British North Borneo in 1912 amount- 

 ed in value to $545,703, a gain of $298,293 over those of the pre- 

 vious year ; while exports of gutta percha dropped from a value 

 of $6,580 in 1911 to $4,246 in 1912. 



There are now in Cochin China 29,600 acres planted in rubber, 

 with about 4,000,000 trees, and it is estimated that by 1920 the 

 annual production will have reached 4,000 tons. 



