180 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD. 



I !'i BRU \m I. ihi 



The British Rubber Craze. 



TO the list of 7'i now plantation companies havnig to do 

 wholly or in part with rubber, registered, in Great Britain 

 since July 1. 1909, which appeared in the last India Rubber 

 World, may now be added 46 other companies, completing the 

 record for the last six months of the year. The total number 

 of such companies is 122 and the total amount of capital stated 

 £8.641,427 1 =$42,053,504.50]. As mentioned last month, this list 

 has no relation to the companies formed meanwhile in other 

 European countries, and those brought out in Ceylon and else- 

 where in the Far East. Without doubt the totals for the six 

 months represented the capitalization of $50,000,000. The com- 

 panies not mentioned in the first list are: 



Ceylon. 

 Molesworth Brothers' Rubber Estates, Limited; De- 

 cember 3 £70,000 



Walaboda Tea and Rubber Co., Limited; December 7.. 10,000 



Federated Malay States. 

 Bujong Rubber Estate. Limited; Selangor; December 3.. £40,000 

 Dennistown (Krian, F. M. S. ) Rubber Estates, Limited; 



Perak ; November 20 150,000 



Straits Rubber Co., Limited; Perak; December 18 350,000 



Glasgow Malayan Syndicate, Limited; December 6 10,000 



Bradwall (F. M. "S.) Rubber Estate, Limited; De- 

 cember 11 90,000 



Cheviot Rubber, Limited ; December 13 90,000 



Hillside Rubber Estate, Limited; November 30,000 



Chota Rubber Estates, Limited; Selangor; December 15.. 50,000 

 Malay and Mid-East Rubbers, Limited; December 10.... 6,000 



Bagan Serai Co., Limited; Perak; December 17 40,000 



Rubber Estates of Krian, Limited; November 19 100 



Teluk Anson Rubber Estates, Limited; November 13.... 60,000 

 Selaba Rubber Estates, Limited; Perak; November 10.. 125,000 

 Bikam Rubber Estates, Limited; Perak; November 8.. 60,000 



Straits Settlements. 

 Sempah Rubber Estates, Limited ; Province Wellesley ; 



December 7 £30,000 



Sungei Bahru Rubber Estates, Limited ; Malacca ; De- 

 cember 13 75,000 



Sedenak Rubber Estates, Limited; Johore; December 2.. 100,000 



Arundel Rubber Estates, Limited; November 25 8,000 



Kelantan Rubber Estates, Limited; Kelantan; November 60,000 



India. 

 Orkaden River (Travancore) Rubber Co., Limited; No- 

 vember 11 £25,000 



Kedamakal Rubber Syndicate, Limited; December 30,000 



Majagram 'lea Co., Limited; Assam; December 10 55,ooo 



Indian Peninsula Rubber and Estates, Limited; No- 

 vember 15 150,000 



Dutch East Indies. 

 London Sumatra Rubber and Produce Estate, Limited ; 



Sumatra ; December 3 £80,000 



Javorneo Syndicate, Limited; October 22 375 



Aengsono (Java) Rubber Plantations, Limited; Novem- 

 ber 19 : 30,000 



English Nederlandsche Rubber Exploitable Syndicate, 



Limited ; November 4 2,000 



East Africa. 

 British East Africa Rubber and Cotton Estates, Lim- 

 ited ; December 22 £50,000 



Suahili Rubber and Fiber Co., Limited; East Africa 



Protectorate; November 18 5.000 



Central Africa. 

 Cie. des Plantations de Mayumba ; French Congo ; No- 

 vember 10 £42,000 



Chipande Coffee and Rubber Company, Limited; Novem- 

 ber 9 10,000 



Wesi Afrk a 

 French Lory Coast Syndicate, Limited; December 13.... £3.050 

 African Lumber and Rubber Syndicate, Limited; Novem- 

 ber 8 3.000 



Mincing Lane Rubber and Produce Co.. Limited; No- 

 vember 8 2,000 



Boinsu Estates Syndicates, Limited; Gold Coast; No- 

 vember 16 8,oco 



Avreboo Rubber Estates, Limited; Gold Coast; Novem- 

 ber 17 65,000 



B.< \ZIL. 



Rubber and Coffee Estates of Brazil, Limited; Novem- 

 ber 19 £24,000 



Geni raj . 

 [Including companies for which no region is named.] 



Kerala Rubber Co., Limited; December 1 £40,000 



Elphil Rubber Co., Limited ; November 30 20,000 



Margarini Rubber Syndicate, Limited; December 17.... 4,000 



Menabe Syndicate, Limited ; December 11 2.537 



Tanah-Abang Syndicate, Limited November 19 5,000 



H. N. Syndicate, Limited; November 20 1,000 



B. N. B. Plantations, Limited; October 9 3,005 



Tropical Development Association, Limited; Novem- 

 ber 15 3,015 



Rubber Options, Limited; November 13 5,000 



Parie Runtar Syndicate, Limited; November 5 6,000 



Scottish Tea and Rubber Trust Co., Limited; Novem- 

 ber 4 150,000 



THE PROSPECTUSES ANALYZED. 



The customary form of prospectus, by means of which British- 

 ers are invited to invest in rubber, starts out by stating that 

 the company has been formed "to acquire, maintain, and further 

 develop" certain estates, comprising so many acres, "planted with 

 rubber and" — cccoanuts or something else — all of which has 

 been reported on by "the late manager" of the Vallambrosa or 

 some other widely known successful rubber estate. It is not 

 recalled that during the period covered by this review any rub- 

 ber plantation company has been floated in London on the basis 

 of known or assured production of a matured rubber estate. 

 It is altogether a question of estimates, on the idea that if 

 some one estate has proved profitable, all neighboring properties 

 must prove equally so. It may be recalled here that when the 

 Vallambrosa company, for example, was formed, the shares were 

 taken by the proprietors of the estates involved, and the public 

 was not invited to come in ! Which may serve to explain the 

 80 per cent, dividends of the Vallambrosa company. 



The meat of all the rubber plantation prospectuses which oc- 

 cupy so much space in the advertising columns of journals from 

 The Times down is to be read in the provisions which the law 

 requires to be printed by way of contracts to which the newly 

 formed company is liable. For example, in the prospectus of a 

 single company, advertised on November 9 last, no fewer than 

 nine such contracts are enumerated, beginning with the original 

 options for purchase, transfers, and so on, all winding up with 

 some such stipulation as — 



The said K and the said W wil be entitled to the difference be- 



tween the sum of £75,000 payable by the vendors under contract 7 and 



the sum of about £69,0 which lias been or will be paid [the difference 



amounting to about $30,000 1, in respsct of the properties or the agree- 

 ments relating thereto above referred to. The vendors are a syndicate in- 

 corporated as a private company in England and has f.si'rl a nominal capi- 

 tal of £6,000, divided into shares of £ 1 each — [and so on, ad infinitum]. 



No wonder that many readers of column after column of such 

 details fail to suspect that the whole transaction is a series of 

 private sale after sale among the same promoters of the same 

 properties, and the final unloading of the whole upon the public. 

 And after that the public may look out for itself. The promot- 

 ers can hardly be blamed, however, in view of the anxiety of 

 the public to buy anything under the name of "rubber." Items 

 like this are not unusual in the financial columns of London 

 newspapers : 



The 30,1 shares in the S Rubber Estates, Limited, having been 



ovei subscribed, the list was closed yesterday, Wednesday, at 4 o'clock. 

 [The list was advertised to remain open until Thursday.] 



These are the exact words of a notice published in respect 

 of an estate in Malaya, capitalized at £100,000 [=$486,650], and 

 so manipulated that only £30,000 was offered to the public. But 

 there is no promise of rubber for three years to come. 



