162 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1910. 



The New "Dyera" Rubber. 



A COMPANY formed some time ago on a large scale for 

 the production of rubber of a new grade, after extensive 

 experimentation and the development of plant, have 

 begun commercial operations, the first shipments of the rubber 

 to Europe and New York having arrived at their destination 

 during the past month. The rubber with which the new com- 

 pany is concerned is that which has been known to the trade 

 for some years past as "Pontianak" — the name of the town in 

 Borneo whence the supplies have been derived mainly — and also 

 as "Gutta-Jelutong," which the United States government has 

 adopted, for its classification in the customs service, from the 

 various spellings of one of the native names in Borneo. 



The consumption of this rubber has been very large, the im- 

 ports into the United States alone during five years past having 

 averaged 23,312,457 pounds. The form in which this material 

 has reached the market has commanded a very low price, the 

 highest quotation during the past year at New York not having 

 exceeded 6 7 A cents per pound. The fact of its continued and 

 growing use, however, has shown the rubber content to be of real 

 value and of wide application in the industry, and many ex- 

 periments have been made in the direction of improving the 

 rubber before putting it to use in the factory, by deresinization, 

 or otherwise. The new company is the result of some experi- 

 ments, and the high grade of rubber attained has led to the 

 inauguration of work on an extensive scale. 



The location of the initial plant of this company is near the 

 mouth of Sarawak river, in the British protectorate of the 

 same name, in the western part of Borneo, and considerably 

 north of Pontianak. The company are closing some large con- 

 cessions for collecting gum from the tree known botanically as 

 Dyera costulata, in the region of which their location is the 

 center. 



Under the system they have adopted it is planned to have the 

 natives continue to tap the trees and to sell the coagulated 

 product, as before, to the Chinese dealers, who will deliver it 

 to the company. The object of the company in gaining the con- 

 cessions is to conserve the trees, which, as tapped in the past, 

 without intelligent supervision, have been killed over large 

 areas. The government, under the terms of the concession re- 

 ferred to, has undertaken to enforce regulations for the protec- 

 tion of the trees. 



It is the belief of the management of the new company that 

 the quality of Dyera gum (or Pontianak), as known hitherto, 

 has been largely deteriorated by the method of coagulation, and 

 their first work was to introduce a better coagulant, of which 

 they have a monopoly. The latex once being coagulated in the 

 districts of its origin is transferred to their factory to be deresi- 

 nated and otherwise treated, with the result that it becomes 

 serviceable in the industry in competition with the higher grades 

 of rubber. The India Rubber World has seen a letter from an 

 official of one of the largest rubber manufacturing companies, 

 reporting samples of the new rubber which he examined to be 

 very dry and clean. He wrote : "If the rubber is of the high 

 tensile group, its washed and dried value would be somewhere 

 between that of Cameta and Para." 



The organization of this company so far has been in American 

 hands. The extent of the enterprise is indicated by the fact 

 that the company chartered a ship to carry the steel structural 

 material for the plant and the machinery installed in it direct 

 from New York to the property. There were in the neighbor- 

 hood of 1,000 tons of machinery in this shipment. A consider- 

 able village has sprung up around their plant, in a location which 

 until recently was jungle land. 



The company is the Malaysian Rubber Co., incorporated June 



18, 1909, under the laws of New Jersey, with $3,000,000 capital 

 authorized. The president is Mr. John L. Elliot, of No. 71 

 Broadway, New York, which is the present head office. The 

 board of directors includes Messrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt and 

 Robert Goelet, also of New York. The name of the new town 

 established by the company in Borneo is "Goebilt," derived from 

 the names of these two directors. 



It is proposed by the company to offer the new grade of 





mm 







m % 



>***"*<•• 



&'::;> 



Gutta-Jelutono Tree. 



[Botanic Gardens, Singapore] 



rubber under a name which shall distinguish it from the Pon- 

 tianak or Jelutong now in the market. While such name has 

 not yet been adopted definitely, it has been suggested that 

 "Dyera" may prove suitable, being that of the tree yielding the 

 rubber. For a time, and until the use of the new coagulant 

 becomes more general, the company will offer different grades, 

 with the idea ultimately of establishing a single standard in 

 rubber of this class. 



A NEW CURSE OF LABOR. 



""THE recent gift of Mr. John D. Rockefeller of $1,000,000 for 

 *■ the study of anchylostomiasis (the "hookworm" disease), 

 its causes, and means for combating it in the southern United 

 States, is likely to prove of interest over a very much larger 

 part of the world. Under the heading "The Curse of Our Labor 

 Force," The Times of Ceylon, in a leading editorial, deals with 

 the danger which confronts the rubber planting regions of 

 Ceylon and the Federated Malay States, through the introduc- 

 tion of this disease by laborers imported from India. It is 

 pointed out that this is not only a fatal disease itself, but that 

 before it attracts attention sufferers from it are particularly 

 liable to fall victims to other and swifter forms of sickness, 

 such as malaria, dysentery, and pneumonia, for which it paves 

 the way. The medical department of Natal (South Africa) has 

 made the use of improved sanitary regulations and appliances 

 compulsory on estates in that colony employing Indian coolies. 



