78 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, 1909. 



Some Sources of Crude Rubber. 



AN AMERICAN FIRM IN THE PARA TRADE. 



THE president of Brazil has signed a decree authorizing 

 the operation in that republic of Leite & Co., Incorporated, 

 a corporation under the laws of Delaware, one of the 

 United States of America. The purpose of the company is to 

 acquire and take over the business of Joaquim M. Leite and 

 Angelo A. Leite, constituting hitherto the firm of Leite & Co., 

 merchants at Para Brazil. The initial capital stated is $3,100, 

 in shares of $100. The duration of the company is not stated. 

 The name of Leite has long figured importantly in the 

 rubber trade on the Amazon, and it may be mentioned that 

 during the last business year the firm of Leite & Co. stood 

 tenth in a list of 101 receivers of rubber taken into account at 

 Manaos, some 620 tons being credited to them. A recent volume 

 of Amazon views shows two steamers, which the firm keep em- 

 ployed in their trade on the Amazon, of 322 and 338 tons re- 

 spectively. It was through this firm and on one of these 

 steamers (the Eurico) that was shipped the enormous piece of 

 rubber mentioned in The India Rubber World, May 1, 1909 

 (page 298). Leite & Co., originally and still owners of 

 seringaes upriver, and particularly in the Acre district, have be- 

 come important aviadores as well ; they are thus producers of 

 rubber to a large extent, and in a position to export rubber on 

 the best terms possible under the Brazilian customs regulations. 

 In other words, their position is comparable with that of the 

 Alves Braga Rubber Estates and Trading Co., Limited, another 

 Amazon firm lately registered as a public company under the 

 English laws. Firms and corporations wholly Brazilian are not 

 required to secure the sanction of the federal government to do 

 business in Brazil ; this requirement exists only with regard to 

 companies having a legal domicile abroad, as in the case of 

 Leite & Co. and the Alves Braga company. The amount of 

 capital mentioned in the initial papers ($3,100) of course bears 

 no relation to the scope of the business of Leite & Co. 



PROFITS OF THE ALVES BRAGA COMPANY. 



The statements w : hich appeared recently in The India Rubber 

 World regarding the new regime in the Amazon regions, under 

 which the crude rubber interest is becoming concentrated and 

 more systematic methods adopted, have further confirmation in 

 the statements made public at the first annual meeting of the 

 Alves Braga Rubber Estates and Trading Co., Limited (London, 

 November 9). This is now an English public company, formed 

 to acquire and continue a long established business on the Am- 

 azon [see The India Rubber World, September 1. 1909 — page 

 421]. The authorized capital is £440,000 [=$2,141,260], of which 

 practically no shares have been issued except en account of 

 purchase of the business of Alves Braga & Co. The amount 

 issued or to be issued on this account is £300,000 [=$1,459,950], 

 no cash being paid for the property. The members of the orig- 

 inal firm are, therefore, the practical owners of the new company. 

 Some figures in the recent report may be of interest as showing 

 the magnitude of the company's operations. The book cost of 

 the seringaes (rubber estates) owned by the company is £61,426. 

 and their area 215,000 acres, with estradas opened up on which 

 are nearly 300,000 rubber trees. The company hold mortgages 

 to the amount of £170,919 on other seringaes, to cover advances 

 of goods or cash, the mortgages carrying with them the ex- 

 clusive right to handle the rubber produced. The mortgaged 

 estates are valued at £220.000, and cover 504,125 acres. The 

 company are also aviadores (consignees) to estates extending 

 over 460,000 acres, so that they have facilities for obtaining rub- 

 ber from more than i.cco.ooo acres [=1.562 square miles, or 

 largely more than the area of Rhode Island]. The company nun 

 ~r\ eral ^n a 11 st an 



The company owed in Para on June 30, £91,214 for goods 

 bought for seringaes upriver, and to be liquidated out of the 

 next crop proceeds. There was also charged to rubber estates 

 agents, as advances, £43,303. 



The average profits of Alves Braga & Co. for six years, 

 1903- 1908, are stated to have been £32,274, with rubber prices 

 ranging from a minimum of 2s. gd. to 5.J. gd. per pound. 



DE MELLO TO BE REORGANIZED. 



The results attained to date by the largely capitalized De 

 Mello Brazilian Rubber Co., Limited, registered in London 

 in July, 1906, to acquire from S. F. De Mello and carry on 

 what was reported to be an extensive business in rubber 

 trading in the Acre district, have been far from stisfactory. 

 At a special meeting of shoreholders in London on Septem- 

 ber 23, the chairman pointed out that from the beginning 

 there had been a lack of working capital, due to which large 

 loans had been necessary, at a heavy charge for interest. In 

 consequence all their expenditures had been at an abnormally 

 high rate. At the same time rubber had fallen very low at one 

 period, so that business had been done at a ioss. The 

 Financier's "Rubber Share Handbook" mentions that the 

 accounts for the business year ended June 30, 1908, although 

 390 tons of rubber were traded in, showed a loss of £28,500 

 [=$138,695.25]. The accounts for the last year have not been 

 made public, but the chairman asserted that, in view of the 

 advance in rubber, a considerable profit would be shown. 



The object of the meeting was to consider proposals 

 whereby funds would be supplied for paying off the debts of 

 De Mello Brazilian Rubber Co., after which it would be 

 liquidated, the business then to be reorganized. The sense 

 of the meeting was that this would be the wiser course, and ar- 

 rangements have been begun for creating the proposed new 

 company. 



BALATA AND RUBBER ON THE ORINOCO. 



The rubber forests of Venezuela are the subject of a report by 

 the United States consul at La Guaira. The native rubber tree is 

 described by him as the Castilloa elastica, and found principally 

 in Sucre and the Amazonas territory. Besides there is balata, in 

 the districts of Jeres and the Orinoco delta. Both rubber and 

 balata are conveyed to Ciudad Bolivar on mule back or in ox 

 carts. The price paid per pound in Ciudad Bolivar is 32 to 40 

 cents for balata and 65 cents to $1.10 for india-rubber. These 

 materials are found solely upon government lands, to work which 

 concessions can be obtained. 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM BOLIVIA. 



The output of crude rubber from Bolivia continues to show a 

 slight increase, the rate of which is expected to advance upon 

 the completion of the Madeira-Mamore railway, when better 

 transportation facilities will exist. The exports for two years 

 past are reported by the French legation at La Paz at 4,027,128.6 

 pounds in 190S and 3,606,664.6 pounds in 1907. Bolivian official 

 figures for certain preceding years were : 2,906,274 pounds in 

 1903; 3456,481 pounds in 1904; 3,720,908 pounds in 1905. 



LESS RUBBER FROM MADAGASCAR. 



The hopes which at one time existed that Madagascar would 

 become an important producer of rubber, it seems, are not likely 

 to be realized, in spite of the abundance of plants on that island 

 capable of yielding rubber of a good quality. The maximum 

 production of rubber in Madagascar was reached in 1906, when 

 1.264,764 kilograms were exported, representing a value of 

 7,511.332 francs. In 1907 the exports fell to 812,930 kilograms, 

 with a value of only 5.249.462 francs. For the first five mouths 

 of rcjcS the exports reached only 121.296 kilograms. 



