402 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May !. 1914. 



with the bunch grass (See India Rubber Wokld, April, 1914, 

 P. 347) has very probably solved the problem. 



A saw mill was also erected upon the property. This plant 

 includes not only engine, boilers, pumps and tanks, but a 

 planer, sticker, band saw and a machine and blacksmith shop. 



The rubber planting is on both sides of the river, the trees 



Home of a Rubber G.\therer. Mojr River. 



being set about IS x 20 feet apart. The close cleaning fol- 

 lowed in the East is not employed. Instead the rows of trees 

 stand in cleared pathways with windrows of jungle between. 

 The trees arc very healthy and growing finely. They range 

 in age from two to four years. The land is of course very 

 level. It is a sandy loam, with an occasional outcropping of 

 clay. 



At the present time little or no work is going on. The 

 Para aviador has retired from active participation in the af- 

 fairs of the company. The laborers, many of whom fell ill, 

 have been laid off, and, like everything in the Amazon valley, 



Headquarters Para (Marajo) 1si..\nd.s Rubber Est.\tes, 



Ll.MITED. 



the work waits until the rubber situation is cleared up a bit. 

 A few men remain at the plantation as caretakers, their 

 immediate superintendent being Mr. Gordon Pickerell, an en- 

 terprising young American, son of the United States Consul 

 -at Para. 



THE P.\KA (M.\K.\JU) ISLANDS RUBBER ESTATES, LIMITED. 

 .A plantation that is today making a little money is the 

 Para (Marajo) Islands Rubber Estates, Limited. It is lo- 

 cated some 200 miles from the city of Para, on the Anajaz 

 river. .Aljout four years ago the company, with English 

 capital back of it, planted some 50,000 Hevea trees. They 

 also sent out men and gathered wild rubber. Their manager, 

 being ambitious for the company, became an aviador on a 

 considerable scale, and finally became overextended and em- 

 barrassed. The home company then sent out T. W. Hall, an 

 expert accountant, who pronounced the concern solvent. 

 He appointed Sidney Hall & Co., of Para, fiscal agents, and 

 they in time put everything into good shape. Today they 

 are making some money from the wild rubber on their estate, 

 and as soon as their planted trees come into bearing they 

 expect their revenues to increase appreciably. 



Incidentally it should be noted that foreign companies 

 usually have Brazilian managers. The reason is that under 

 a Brazilian a company pays in taxes about $160 a year, but 

 if the manager be a foreigner the tax is $1,500 a year. 



THE RUBBER PLANTERS' TRUST. 

 Some of the otherwise well informed in Para and Manaos 

 are of the opinion that rubber prices will go back to their 

 former high level. They argue that in the past the price has 

 advanced and receded periodically and that it has never re- 

 mained either high or low. They are confident that the 



Hauli.n'G Batcho or Rubber Boat .\round a Cataract in 

 THE Madeira River. 



present situation is the result of manipulation. They see in 

 planters' associations a "Rubber Planters' Trust" which is 

 determined to put plantation rubber into every factory in the 

 world, so they put prices down low enough to make pur- 

 chases attractive, and were successful. 



THE EXPORT TAX ON RUBBER. 



The price of rubber in Para is somewhat different from its 

 [trice in Liverpool or New York. It is, in fact, all of 35 per 

 cent. less. That percentage, however, must be added before 

 it is shipped, and is made up of the usual State and Federal 

 ( Xpert taxes, to which is added about 15 per cent, for port 

 and freight charges. 



By the way, it has been generally understood that the 

 government planned to take otT its export tax, reducing it 

 some 10 per cent, each year until it finally was wiped out. 

 The fact is, 10 per cent, was to be taken off of the weekly 

 Pauta or valuation of the rubber (not from the tax), which 

 would he so small as to be hardly appreciable. 



That the government has not reduced the export taxes on 

 rubber does not surprise anyone. It could not be done, for 

 the rubber tax is practically the only source of revenue. Of 

 all the millions that have been received in years past none 



