August 1, 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



625 



THE BATAVIA RUBBER EXHIBITION. 



PRIZES AND DISTINCTIONS TO BE AW.^RDED. 



IN addition to certificates of honorable mention, the following 

 special prizes will be awarded at the above exhibition, which 

 opens on September 8: 



I. Prize. Most complete description of housing and hygienic 

 regulations for coolies on rubber estates. By Governor General 

 of Netherlands Indies. 



II. Batavia 1914 Cup— Value equaling $200 gold. For best 

 collection showing cultivation of Hevea Brasitiensis. By daily 

 administration. 



III. Soerabaya Handelsblad Cup — Value equaling $180 gold. 

 For exhibit from Netherlands Indies, connected with cultivation 

 of Hevea BraMieiisis. By M. van Geuns, chief editor. 



IV. Van Laer Cup— Value equaling $120 gold. For best 

 commercial sample of Malayan Hcvca rubber. By A. van Laer. 



V. The-Lowest-Cost-of-Production Cup — Value equaling $144 

 gold. For lowest cost of production on a Java estate, f. o. b. 

 Tandjong, Priok. By F. Peck & Co., Bandoeng. 



VI. The Ottolander Cup— Value equaling $200 gold. For best 

 sample of commercial Ceara rubber. By T. Ottolander, presi- 

 dent of the Netherlands Indies Agricultural Syndicate, Banjoe- 

 wangi. 



VII. F. M. S, Trophy— Value equaling $96 gold. For best 

 sample of commercial Hcvca rubber produced upon any estate 

 in the Netherlands Indies. By (irenier's Rubber News, Kuala 

 Lumpur. 



VIII. The Ceylon Cup — Value equaling $96 gold. For com- 

 mercial sample of Smoked Plantation Rubber, produced in 

 Ceylon, approaching as near as possible to Fine Hard Para. By 

 N. C. S. Bosanquet. 



IX. Gold medal. For the most complete exhibit of machinery 

 used on rubber estates. By the West Java Rubber Planters' 

 Association. 



X. Planters' Association of Malaya Cup-^Value equaling $240 

 gold. For every exhibit of plantation Para (in lots of not less 

 than 100 pounds) which attains the highest standard on basis 

 of proposed R. G. A. tests. By Planters' Association of Malaya, 

 Kuala Lumpur. 



XI. XII and XIII. Gold, silver and bronze medals. For three 

 best commercial samples of Smoked Sheet. By Rubber Growers' 

 Association, London. 



XIV. The India Rubber World Cup. For most complete ex- 

 hibit of wild rubber. By Henry C. Pearson, editor. 



CONGRESS OF RUBBER COUNTRY PHYSICIANS AT BATAVIA. 



During the rubber congress to be held at Batavia, Java, from 

 September 7 to September 12, there will also be held a con- 

 gress of physicians from rubber countries. About fifty doctors 

 have already expressed their intention of taking part in this 

 congress, which is being organized by Dr. Kiewiet de Jonge. 



PARTICIPANTS IN THE JAVA EXHIBITION. 

 According to latest reports, the countries taking part in the 

 exhibition will include : England, Holland, Malay States, Brit- 

 ish India, Ceylon, Straits Settlements. Siam, Australia, Belgium, 

 Germany and Italy. Replies had not at that time been received 

 from Japan. Sweden, Denmark and -Vustria. 



. i ^, of which 370 acres have been planted since 1910. 



Some J.ttOO trees are said to be now fit for tapping. 



In explanation of the relatively favorable prices obtained last 

 year, the chairman stated that the company sold its product 

 in the East, thereby saving the freight to London and the 

 charges at that port, adding : 



"There is an increasing number of .American buyers, who 

 prefer to purchase their rubber direct from the estates in the 

 East and to ship it to New York, rather than buy in London. 



. . . The percentage of the output of rubber sold in London 

 is steadily decreasing and . . . will decrease still further." 



BATAVIA PLANTAIION INVESTMEKIS, LIMITED. 



At the recent second annual general meeting of the above 

 company, a final dividend of 7^ per cent, was declared ; making 

 a total of IS per cent, for the year. This corporation, with a 

 capital equaling $1,000,000 (nine-tenths of which is fully paid 

 up), has apparently been making satisfactory profits on its invest- 

 ments in the shares of various Dutch East Indian companies, 

 without incurring new liabilities, and meeting all current ex- 

 penses out of revenue. The three estates controlled are the 

 "Kweeklust" and ''Weltenvreden" of Java, and the "Eerste 

 Medansche" of Sumatra, to which it is contemplated to add others. 

 The total output of the three was about 300,000 pounds, produced 

 at a reduced cost of l.f. (24.33 cents) per pound. 



A fourth estate has recently been added to the company's 

 holdings, the "Broadwater," Pefak (Federated Malay States), 



RUBBEB IN GEBHAM EAST AFRICA. 



Tlie Briti-ih Consul at Dar-es-Salaam reports that the set- 

 1)ack in the economic development of the colony produced by the 

 fall in rubber has been of a serious character. Rubber cultiva- 

 tion is one of the most important interests, there being probably 

 some 19,000,000 trees planted in the colony, of which about one- 

 half are ready for tapping. All plantations have limited the 

 number of hands employed, and two of the largest have entirely 

 suspended tapping. In order to partially meet the situation, rail- 

 way and ocean freights have been reduced. 



Prospects of the smaller estates are better than those of the 

 larger ones, the working expenses being less. Some of the 

 latter are said to have begun to cut down rubber trees to make 

 room for other crops. 



Another difficulty with which planters have had to contend 

 is the absence of a standard quality for East African rubber. 

 There is only one large washing and curing factory in operation,. 

 at Muhesa, while several smaller ones are at Usamhara. Most of 

 the planters wash the rubber themselves, with the result that it 

 has to be done again in Europe. 



BELGIUM'S CONGO COLONY. 



A recent issue of a journal published in Liege, Belgium, con- 

 tained a very interesting contribution on the situation in the 

 Belgian Congo country by Georges Lorand. who. it will be re- 

 membered, took such an active part in bringing about reforms 

 in that country, and doing away with the frightful atrocities- 

 that went on under the Leopold regime. 



Mr. Lorand is not at all optimistic regarding the future of 

 this colony. He cites the fact that the finances of the colony 

 have shown a deficit for a number of years, which at the present 

 time amounts to i6,000,000. He states that the horrors that took 

 place in the days of Leopold have ceased, but that owing to the 

 fact that labor is no longer under compulsion as it was in those 

 days, and owing to the increasing competition of plantation 

 rublier, which has brought prices down to a very low 

 figure, the shipment of rubber from that colony has practically 

 ceased. One phase of the situation to which he calls attention 

 is the fact that not a little of this plantation competition may be 

 attributed to the Belgians themselves, as the Belgian companies 

 now operating in Malaya have an aggregate capitalization of 

 £10,000.(XX), and are thus quite an important factor in the lower- 

 ing of rubber prices generally and the practical extinction of the 

 Congo rubber trade. Mr. Lorand further states that there is no 

 cultivation of any .sort at the present time in the Congo, and 

 that while much is said about the mining possibilities of the 

 colony, the cost of the necessary railroads would be in the 

 neighborhood of i28,0(X),000. He concludes by the assertion that 

 if through the exhaustion of home resources the Congo should 

 ever be put on a profitable footing the colony would probably^ 

 be taken away from the Belgians altogether. 



Exports of Balata from Java amounted in 1913 to 2,614,506 

 pounds, an advance of 1,010,849 pounds over tlie 1912 exports. 



