November i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



43 



developed plantations to be taken over by the new company are 

 stated to have about 250,000 trees ready for tapping, while the 

 number ready for next year is estimated at 580,000. These 

 plantations are on a railway running from the seaport Tanga, 

 just south of Mombasa, the starting point of the railway which 

 is opening up Uganda. 



BRITISH INVESTORS IN RUBBER SHARES. 



In a list of shareholders in Rubber Plantations Investment 

 Trust printed in London Financial News appear several well- 

 known names connected with the crude rubber trade, and 

 also rubber goods manufacturers. For example: 



Shares. 



Heilbut, Symons & Co.. rubber merchants 10,000 



v Figgis (S. Figgis & Co., rubber merchants) 1,500 



W. Symington (William Symington & Co., Limited, rubber merchants) 1,000 

 P. B. Cow (P. B. Cow & Co., rubber manufacturers) 1,100 



Some of these have become connected with the Investment 

 trust through their holdings in plantation companies in the 

 East. Among those interested in the Investment trust is H. 

 R. H. Princess Lcuise, Duchess of Argyll, a sister of the King, 

 credited with 1,000 shares of £5 each. Most of the holdings 

 in the Investment trust are in the names of plantation in- 

 vestors, which leads the Financial News to remark that "the 

 rubber share market, like other great departments of city 

 activity, tends to centralization, even where its ramifications 

 are most widely extended." 



Most of those mentioned above share in the recent im- 

 portant issue of shares in connection with the Plantations. 

 Limited. The latter list includes 1,000 2-shilling shares 

 issued to the Edinburgh Investment Trust, Limited, of Edin- 

 burgh, a concern capitalized at £1,000,000 [=$4,866,500]. At 

 the same time it may be mentioned that £50,000 in shares in 

 the Edinburgh Trust are held by the important Scottish 

 Equitable Life Assurance Society. Limited; that is the Scot- 

 tish insurance company have become interested in rubber plant- 

 ing shares. 



PLANTING PR0CRESS IN MEXICO. 



The annual report of the Orizaba Rubber Plantation Co. 

 ( Chicago), to the certificate holders, by the president, Mr. J. 

 B. Sanborn, dated October 1. 1909, contains details of the 

 progress made on their estate in Chiapas, Mexico, based upon 

 observations made during his visit in August last. The growth 

 of their Castilloa continues excellent, and their condition would 

 appear, judging from the photographic views in this pamphlet, 

 all that could be desired. The company have made a small 

 beginning in the way of tapping, among some of their six year 

 old trees, and a view is given of the rubber produced on the 

 plantation on a commercial basis — a pressed block weighing 60 

 pounds. 



Mr. Sanford mentions that on a neighboring private planta- 

 tion, near Huimanguillo, owned by Mr. Adolph G. Weiss, tapping 

 will be begun this fall on the eight year old trees. Mr. Sanford 

 reports meeting a Mr. Gonzales, a Mexican planter near San 

 Juan Bautista, with 120,000 rubber trees 14 years old, who is 

 satisfied with V2 pound per year from one tapping. "He says he 

 will not take any chances with his trees ; that they are too 

 valuable, and it takes too many years to raise, to experiment with 

 them." 



ST. PAUL TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT CO. 



In connection with a mention of the exhibit of crude rubber 

 hy the St. Paul Tropical Development Co. at the recent Min- 

 nesota State fair in The India Rubber World, October 1, 1909 

 (page 10), the company state that their exhibit did not em- 

 brace plantation rubber of their own production, as they 

 began planting only last year. They have a considerable 

 number of wild trees, however, and have tapped them 

 and sold the rubber. Their exhibit at the fair embraced 

 forest rubber as prepared by the natives, "creamed" rubber from 

 neighboring plantations, and a supply of late, the latter being 



used in daily demonstrations of rubber coagulation which were 

 watched with great interest by the public. The company likewise 

 displayed tropical fruits, hard woods, and Mexican curios. A 

 similar exhibit was made by the company at the Northwestern 

 Iowa fair, at Mason City. Iowa. The St. Paul Tropical Develop- 

 ment Co. have 300.000 Castilloa rubber trees planted on their 

 "El Rosario" estate in Soconusco, Mexico, and intend planting 

 800,000 next year. Their plantation manager, Air. L. A. Ostien, 

 is a scientific agriculturist of much tropical experience. 



FRAUDS IN THE NAME OF RUBBER. 



An illustration of how rubber mad some British speculators 

 have become is found in a story which Truth, of London, relates 

 in detail in its issue of September 22. The story has to do 

 with a company registered thirteen years ago as the Rubber 

 Exploration Co., Limited, with a nominal capital of £200,000 

 [=$973,300], in £1 shares. Prior to 1901 only 7 shares were 

 issued — one to each incorporator. In that year 98,751 shares 

 were issued as "fully paid" to another corporation, equally un- 

 known to the financial world. There is no record of the Rubber 

 Exploration Co., Limited, having engaged in business in any way, 

 but recently the company began advertising that it was in a 

 position to buy and sell or finance rubber plantations. Truth 

 relates that a Stock Exchange broker received commissions from 

 one Mr. Leach to buy the company's shares, amounting all told 

 to 1,000, the broker paying for the same £1,150 2s. 9d. [$5,597.14]- 

 Mr. Leach tailed to pay for the shares, and the broker sued for 

 the amount and obtained judgment. But it does not follow 

 that he will get his money. Meanwhile he had on hand shares 

 which nobody will buy from him. The point, according to Truth, 

 is that Mr. Leach assisted holders of shares which represented 

 no investment and no value to realize cash for them. The in- 

 ■ timation is that a good many other shares of Rubber Exploration 

 Co., Limited, may have been disposed of in the same way. 



RUBBER IN GERMAN COLONIES. 



The following figures relating to the acreage planted to rubber 

 in the German colonies are credited by the Ceylon Observer to an 



official source : 



German East Africa (mostly Ceara, lately Manicoba, and 



some Hevea ) 7.4 10 



Togo and Kamerun (Ceara, Manitoba, Ficus, Castilloa, and 



Hevea ; the latter of late on a large scale) 4-94° 



New Guinea (mostly Hevea) 3-"°5 



Samoa (mostly Hevea) 2,470 



Total acreage 18,525 



BRIEF MENTIONS. 



The receipt is mentioned, at the royal botanic garden of 

 Ceylon, from Mr. Frank J. Dunleavy, manager of the Boston and 

 Bolivia Rubber Co., of Sorata, Bolivia, of seeds of a new species 

 of Hevea rubber, discovered in the Kaka river region in Bolivia. 

 The seeds are described as being about one-third the size of 

 Hevea Brasiliensis. 



An actress popular on the New York stage has given to the 

 local press a letter requesting her photograph, signed by the 

 manager of a widely known rubber plantation on the Malay 

 peninsula. The letter states that the writer is an Englishman who 

 has been "boxed up" for some years, "quite cut off from civiliza- 

 tion and the world." A picture of the actress appeared in an 

 American periodical which strayed into the rubber planter's hands, 

 and he was filled with a longing to have the lady's photograph to 

 adorn his bungalow wall. It is stated that the coveted photo- 

 graph was sent, together with "a little note of cheer." 



PERSONAL NOTES. 



The correspondent at Buitenzorg of the Java Bode reports 

 that Professor M. Treub, director of the department of agricul- 

 ture, has tendered his resignation. Under his administration a 

 great incentive has been given to the culture of india-rubber and 

 gutta-percha in Java. 



