28 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[ October i . tgo 



RUBBER FOOTWEAR PRICES HIGHER. 



THE United States Rubber Co., under date of September 20, 

 advised the trade of new discounts on rubber footwear, 

 which has the effect of a material advance in prices, which it 

 is stated has become neci sary '>n account of the unprecedented 

 high cost of crude rubber. The change in discounts consist-. 

 of 20 per cent, being allowed now, as against 25, in the initial 

 discount on each item in the company's lists. 11k Hood 

 Rubber Co. have issued new price lists of the same date, with 

 a similar change in discounts. The same is true of the Apsley 

 Rubber Co. It may be stated, indeed, that the advance in foot- 

 wear i~ general, in keeping with the upward movement of 

 for rubber manufactures of all kinds. 



RUBBER PRODUCTION IN AFRICA. 



■'""pi I K Prospects and Possibilities of Rubber Cultivation in 



*■ West Africa" was the subject of an address before the 

 African Trade Section of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. 

 on July 12, by Mr. J. J. Fischer, who has long been engaged in 

 the crude rubber trade at Liverpool. He is largely interested in 

 trade generally with West Africa, in which region he once spent 

 20 years, besides which he has made many visits to the coast. 

 Mr. Fischer is now managing director of the West African 

 Rubber Plantations, Limited. 



Funtumia elastica, a rubber tree indigenous to a large part of 

 \trica. is highly regarded by Mr. Fischer. It yielded a large 

 part of the production of the Gold Coast and Lagos in the 

 days of the greatest export from those colonies. Since then the 

 supply has gradually diminished, because the natives had cut 

 down so many tree-. After the government began to insist 

 upon the trees being tapped, this was done so badly in many 

 cases that the trees soon died. Now Funtumia is being planted 

 in the British possessions, several years after the Germans made 

 a beginning in Kamerun. 



The United States consul at Durban reports that there are 

 in Natal — in Zululand, for instance, large tracts of land suitable 

 for rubber cultivation, but these are allotted only to persons who 

 Lr< British subjects or who may take out litter- of naturaliza- 

 tion in the colon;.. 



\t the London Rubber Exhibition samples of Funtumia were 

 shown by Mr. Fischer's company. He said "The rubber 

 was tried on a machine, also on exhibition, and it was found to 

 be the strongest rubber at the exhibition. A strip cut off from a 

 biscuit 5 inches Ion". 1 inch wide, and about Js inch thick, 

 stretched out to 35 inches, seven times its length, before it broke. 



The attendant at the machine said that he had never tested any 

 rubber yet so strong as this." 



The Mabira Forest (Uganda) Rubber Co., Limited, Mr. 

 Fischer said, "also exhibited Funtumia rubber at the Rub!. 1 

 Exhibition. Their rubber was very black, I was told," 

 Mr. Fischer, "and not so strong. Since then they have im- 

 proved the quality and got it paler, and it was sold at the same 

 price recently as Ceylon plantation Para rubber. If we could 

 succeed in getting it still paler — to a bright amber color — it 

 would fetch 6d. more per pound. This, I believe, is possible. 

 Funtumia elastica rubber will, therefore, take the first place, 

 always, provided it is planted and its latex scientifically treated." 



The planting of Hevea rubber in various parts of Africa is 

 also commended by Mr. Fischer. Several thousands of this 

 species have been planted by the West .African Plantatiot - 

 Limited. The planting of Funtumia in certain districts is prefer- 

 able, because this will succeed with less rainfall than is needed 

 for Hevea. 



Mr. Fischer devoted some remarks also to "manicoba" rubber 

 . Wanihot). "The Germans in East Africa," he said, "have 

 found that this is the most remunerative for their country, 

 I see now that they have stripped £200,000 worth already." 



An American consular official at Hongkong stati 

 'brie would be very little market in China for rubber 1" 

 and overshoes of the patterns sold in the United States, but 

 that if made according to Chinese styles considerabli 

 mand exists at the chief distributing ports of Hongkong, 

 Canton, and Shanghai. The value of the imports of rubbei 

 footwear into the empire during 1907. the last year for which 

 statistics are available, was $244,900. With the Chinese the 

 mark or brand (chop) plays an important part, and Ameri- 

 cans seeking to build up trade in this line should adopt a dis- 

 tinctive mark, registered in the United States as well as in 

 China, and place it on every shoi 



The highway commission of Massachusetts are at work upon 

 a census of traffic on the highways of that State. Win!. th< 

 turns tire not complete, the commission figure that 45 per cent. 

 of the total vehicular traffic is motor driven. Up to September 

 1 motorists had paid to the State of Massachusetts in regi 

 tion and license fees $151,635.52, which amount lias been credited 

 to tin road maintenance account. 



Tut Observer mention- the visit to Colombo oi young 

 Chines.. ( heah Seng Yeah, who ha* a 750-acre plantation oi 

 ber and cocoanuts in Penang. lie was finding difficult} in gain- 

 ing access to the Ceylon rubber estates. 



Review of the Crude Rubber Market. 



CURRENT quotations for crude rubber are unprece- stocks assured itniil the crop season is well advanced, there 



lented. \ widespread impression that prices would can hardly fail to be reduced level of prices. Mi 



decline steadily after the midsummer reaction from while the cost of rubber goods 1- being put up by manu- 



ibout $j a pound proved unfounded, and throughout the facturers everywhere. The effect .at prices 01 speculativ. 



month an idvance has been in progress. Everywhere trading is not easy to point out at any time, and tin 



the story is tin ager buying at rising prices where- position just now i- more than unusually complex. 



ever rubber is available. There are reports of busim Arrivals of rubber (including caucho) al Para for thi 



done in London al ibouf $2.23; .11 the last Antwerp sale three months of the crop year have been: 



lots wre sold at .." ad 1 franc per kilogram abovi |f| _ ]f|( , s 



brokers estimations. July tons [,840 1,370 m too 



It is yet between ... ons for the arrival of rubber from August f>6go 1.500 1.890 J70 



the Amazon, and no other region 1- yielding an unusual September 2.070 2.410 2,355 <m.86o 



amount of rubber. The active demand — evidently on an •, , , . --„_ . , Q . , ,„ 



, ; total .-,.000 >2«o >s4.s 3.13° 



unusual scale — for consumption would alone tend to put |,, 4, September 28, [909.] 



up prices at such a time. The effect upon the trade, if , 



,,,-,, ' ' ' K "' rH1 u " x Rubber World: in view 01 the prevailing 



present conditions should long continue, would likely prove lligh prices ,,„. ,.„,,,„, , think ,„.„ ,1„ people in the Amazon regions will 



very serious. But with increased supplies, and with factory . -.. > themselves this -...-.. to luce an unusually large crop. It.. 



