10 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Ocro . 1909. 



in its inf.. Lid much experienci 



garding it, particularly with Caslilloa, the rubber tree of M 

 The La Zacualpa inti tent, however, and their 



planting ha 'led steadily, until tod I He India 



Rum: ined by the president of the con:i 



the three La Zacualpa plantations embrace 18,500 acres [=29 

 square miles], and the first plantation "this year will pr 

 fully 100.000 pounds of rubber." 



CRUDE RUBBER AT THE MINNESOTA FAIR. 



Probably the first exhibit of crude rubber at an agricultural 

 fair in the Unit is that of the St. Paul Tropical Devel- 



opment Co. at the Minnesota State fair this year. The com- 

 pany's plantation is located in Mexico, but is owned by Ameri- 

 can capitalists and directed from the city of St. Paul. 



LA ESPERANZA RUBBER CO. SOLD. 



The entire property of La Esperanza Rubber Co. offered 

 for sale at public auction at Providence, Rhode Island, on 

 August 30, was purchased by Carleton Hale, a creditor of the 

 company. The property embraces 600 acres in the canton of 

 El Maison, state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, purchased for the 

 company by Mr. Hale in March, 1898, immediately after 

 which the planting of rubber was begun. The principal 

 buildings on the estate — known as Hacienda de Tula — were 

 burned February S, 1909, including a ton or more of fine 

 creamed rubber, prepared under a method devised by Mr. 

 Hale, who has retained an interest in the company from the 

 beginning. 



RUBBER PLANTERS IN JAVA ORGANIZE. 



There was organized at Bandjar on July 20 a Vereeniging 

 van Rubberplanters, which is stated to have a membership of 

 40 planters in the western part of the island. It has at once 

 started to take up a question which is of preponderating in- 

 terest for the future of these estates, namely, how to get a 

 reliable labor supply. A lengthy account of the movement, 

 from the Preanger Bodi . appear in De Indische Mercuur of 

 August 31. 



DETAILS OF RUBBER COST. 



The Bukit Rajah Co., Limited, figure the cost of tapping last 

 year, curing, packing, and freight to London, at yd. [ = 14. 18 

 cents, gold] per pound, and the proportion of cost of administra- 

 tion and upkeep which they have charged to production at 6d. 

 [=112.16 cents], or a total of is. id. [=26.34] as the cost landed 

 in London, while the average net selling price was 4s. iVzd. 

 [= $1.12^2], thus showing a profit of 3^. 6 l Ad. [=86.16 cents] 

 per pound. The business year closed on March 31, before the 

 beginning of the era of unprecedented high prices. 



THE NEW BELGIAN RUBBER INVESTMENT COMPANY. 



The Societe Financiere des Caoutchoucs, formed recently at 

 Antwerp with a capital of 3,100,000 francs [=$598,300] [see 

 The India Rubber Wokld, September 1, 1909 — page 424] by a 

 decision of the board have increased the capital to 10,000,000 

 francs [=$ 1,930,000]. As already stated in these columns, Edou- 

 ard Bunge, of Bunge & Co., of Antwerp, has been elected chair- 

 man of this company. Willy Friling, of the same firm, has been 

 elected managing director, and F. Maus manager of the company. 

 As before stated, the object is the making of investments in 

 rubber planting and cultivation in the Far East and elsewhere. 



RUBBER PLANTING MISCELLANY. 



Referring to the forward selling of rubber on contract, a cor- 

 spondent of The Times of Ceylon asks what security is given 

 for fulfillment of the contracts — say, in case the market should 

 fall below the stipulated prices. 



A specimen of plantation Ceara rubber biscuits from the gov- 

 ernment experimental garden at Kullar, South India, reported on 

 at the Imperial Institute, London, was considered very favorably. 

 It was valued by brokers at 5.$. 6d. [=$1.3354] per pound, with 

 fine hard Para selling at 5.?. id. and plantation Para biscuits at 

 5* 3d. to $s. 9</. 



RUBBER SHARES ON 'CHANGE. 



"Pill financial news cabled from Europe to America is be- 

 ■* ginning to reflect the prominence given to rubber planta- 

 tion promotion in the London stock market. For example the 

 principal transatlantic report in the New York Journal of Com- 

 if recent date starts off : 



">\. September 23. — Except for Rubber shares our stock mark* 1 

 'lull. Rubbei speculation is rapidly passing the bounds of prudent, 

 caution; new flotations are of such frequent occurrence that tin"/ show how 

 important a financial factor a popular enthusiasm can become. 



"Rubber" is referred to prominently in the leading financial 

 articles of the London papers daily, as indicated by a few recent 

 extracts from the first page articles in The Financial Ncivs, 

 in addition to the regular column of details inside the paper. 

 For example, in three recent issues : 



[September 6.] — A large volume of business was put through in Bl 

 North Borneo shares, which rose at one period to 24s. $d. and closed strong 

 at 23s. c,d. The advance in these shares is partly attributed to the reports 

 that a large amount of money is now coming into the country through the 

 medium of the various subsidiary flotations, and that developments will, in 

 consequence, be much more rapid than in past years. 



[September 7.] — In other directions most sections were exceedingly quiet, 

 owing, in a large degree, to the near approach of the settlement, but British 

 North Borneo shares were an exception, and changed hands in large lines, 

 while Pahangs also claimed attention, all cheap shares being readily 

 picked up. 



[September 8.] — There was increased activity in British North Borneo 

 shares, on buying believed to be based on the details given in another column. 

 In other directions prices were well maintained. 



It must be taken into account that the North Boreno enter- 

 prises referred to are not yet producing any rubber, though their 

 prospects appear good The parent Borneo company has now on 

 its premises a lot of rubber plantation companies, capitalized 

 at more than $5,000,000, and the activity of Borneo shares on 

 the stock exchange is due to the paper profits made by the 

 parent company in trading in their shares As The Financial 

 News of September 8 says, editorially: 



The recent influential buying of British North Borneo shares is said to- 

 be due to a supposition that the dividend will be increased from 4 per cent, 

 to 8 per cent., and also to the fact that the company have paid off £60,000 

 [=$291,990] of their debentures out of the proceeds obtained from the recent 

 rubber flotations. 



Note that the £60,000 is paid from stock trading, and not from 

 ^ales of rubber. And when we come to the important plantation 

 companies now producing on an important scale, and at a hand- 

 some profit, we do not find in the stock market record any 

 record of "business done" in their shares, with a few exceptions. 



NEW VOGUE FOR RUBBER SHARES. 



It has been estimated that scarcely 1 per cent, of members 

 of the Stock Exchange have hitherto used stronger language 

 than the names of certain brands of cigars as a verbal vent for 

 ruffled tempers. We understand, however, that the vogue is 

 changing in favor of rubber shares, the names of several of 

 which are said to give wonderful relief. — The Financial Nezcs 

 (London). 



VULCANIZATION OF RUBBER COATED FABRICS. 



A FRENCH patent (No! 396,620 — January 30, 1908) issued 

 ** to M. Lamy, relates to a- new vulcanizing process. Rubber- 

 coated fabrics are wound around a drum, either separately or 

 with metal strips inserted between the layers. The drum, fabric, 

 and so on, are then mounted on bearings in an autoclave, into 

 which some passive gas, such as carbonic acid or nitrogen, is fed 

 itnder pressure. The autoclave is surmounted by a jacket, heated 

 by hot air or steam, in which jacket the autoclave can revolve. 

 This device is said to be especially well adapted for vulcanizing 

 rubber-coated fabrics which would be injured by direct treatment 

 with steam or chloride of sulphur, and cannot be vulcanized by 

 a known method by means of hot air, because the rubber com- 

 position contains no substance which induces vulcanization, such 

 as litharge. 



On the Amsterdam stock exchange the shares of about a dozen 

 rubber planting companies are now traded in. 



