April i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



249 



The Profits of Rubber Culture. 



ONE HUNDRED FER CENT. FOR "CEYLON PLANTERS." 



WHILE the last issue of The India Rubber World was on 

 press it was not known in America that in the offices 

 of Messrs. Cumberbatch S: Co., Ambewattee House, 

 Slave Island, Colombo, the directors of the Ceylon Planters' Rub- 

 ber Syndicate, Limited, were drinking, in champagne, the health 

 of the rubber planting enterprise in general, and of the Ceylon 

 Planters' in particular, in celebration of their first ioo per cent, 

 dividend on a year's trading. The news came a little later 

 through a representative of the editor of the Xew York Herald, 

 who had had a cable from Colombo, but wanted a guarantee of 

 the accuracy of the figures. The Herald printed the news on 

 the ground that The India Rubber World, "the official organ of 

 the india-rubber trade," considered the cable "warranted by facts" 

 existing in the rubber cultural interest. 



The first fact in the case, as now known, is that the Hon. 

 Mr. J. N. Campbell, chairman of the Ceylon Planters' Rubber 

 Syndicate, Limited, on the date of their annual meeting, pro- 

 posed the motion of the directors to declare the ioo per cent, 

 dividend, and that the shareholders, on hearing the accounts 

 read, voted to support the motion. Not only this, but the chair- 

 man pointed to the prospect of the dividend for the ensuing 

 year reaching 170 per cent., on a "conservative estimate." All 

 of which brought forth no comment from the Ceylon press ; they 

 have become prepared for extraordinary dividends from actual 

 plantations producing actual rubber. 



The Ceylon Planters' Rubber Syndicate, Limited, was formed 

 in 1899, with 250,000 rupees [=$81,108.3.2] capital, now fully paid. 

 The company have 884 acres, in the Klang district, Federated 

 Malay States, of which at latest reports 616 acres were planted 

 to Hevea rubber, about one-half being now 8 years old. The 

 rubber crop realized in 1906 was 9,561 pounds. In 1907 45,581 

 pounds were gathered, and a dividend of 15 per cent, was paid. 

 The 1908 crop was 66,476 pounds, and the dividend 28 per cent. 

 There were also small crops of coffee and cocoanuts. The 

 rubber estimate for 1909 was 85,000 pounds, and the actual yield 

 100.437 pounds. The rubber crop for the current year is esti- 

 mated at 145,000 pounds, at the lowest calculation, the greater 

 part of which has been sold forward at 4 rupees [=$1.28] per 

 pound, and upon this result is based the prediction of a 170 

 per cent, dividend. 



The dividend of 100 per cent., amounting to about $81,000, is 

 equal to 8 per cent, on more than $1,000,000. On such earning 

 capacity there doubtless are promoters who would not think of 

 offering the company to the public for less than $10,000,000, 

 or £2,000,000 sterling. 



The shares of this company are not traded in on the London 

 Stock Exchange. Not even in the Ceylon stock market are any 

 transactions in Ceylon Planters' rubber shares reported. Hold- 

 ers of them won't sell. They are not speculative shares. The 

 latest recorded quotation, so far as known to us, was 5,050 

 rupees for 500 rupee shares. The share unit in future, by the 

 way, will be 10 rupees. 



KALTITARA CO., LIMITED— RESULTS. 



At the fourteenth annual meeting (Colombo, February 8) of 



Kalutara Co., Limited, figures were presented which permit of 



the following comparison, regarding crops realized and some 

 other details : 



Tea (lbs). Rubber (lbs). Profit Dividends. 



1905 365.275 1.398 Rs. 23,177 ;' < 



1906 336.065 8,126 25.538 5% 



1907 354.073 14.646 75.943 15% 



1908 319,536 28. 002 85,003 15% 



1909 296.436 52,631 207,758 38% 



The declining product of tea is attributed to the continued 



growth of the rubber interplanted with it. It is stated that the 

 last year's profit equalled 45 per cent, on the capital invested, but 

 only 3S per cent, will be distributed in dividends. The figures 

 under "Profit" above include balance brought forward in each 

 year. It is stated that the oldest rubber trees on the estate, of 

 which the are about 1,000, yielded 6 pounds on an average. The 

 500-rupee shares of the company were traded in recently at 

 Colombo at i,6co rupees. 



RUBBER PLANTING IN CHIAPAS (MEXICO). 



To the Editor of The India Rubber World: I wish to ex- 

 press to you the appreciation which we feel toward you in refer- 

 ence to the articles in the February and March issues of your 

 valuable paper, under the heading of "Castilloa Rubber in Chi- 

 apas (Mexico)," by Mr. J. L. Hermessen. 



Articles of this character do great good to people like our- 

 selves, who are attempting the cultivation of this wonderful 

 product in our particular section of the country. Noticing in 

 both articles the reference to our particular property, known as 

 "La Aurora," the number of acres under cultivation accredited to 

 us being less than they actually are, I feel that you will be glad 

 to have information more up to date. We have at present 625 

 acres planted to rubber, all of which is growing perfectly, and 

 gives every promise of being all that we could anticipate. Our 

 planting is as follows: 200,000 one year old; 40,000 three years 

 old ; and 10,000 three to seven years old. We expect to do 

 a large amount of clearing and planting during the next year. 

 We anticipate great things in the future from this choice locality 

 in the production of the Castilloa elastica. Yours very truly. 



W. R. HEACOCK, 



Treasurer Chiapas Land and Stock Co., Plantation, "La Aurora." 

 Los Angeles, California, March 9, 1910. 



PLANTING ON "RIO MICHOL" (MEXICO). 



To the Editor of The India Rubber World : I have been very 

 much interested in the articles appearing in recent issues of your 

 journal referring to the conditions on the rubber plantations of 

 southern Mexico. I have read also the attack in the American 

 Magazine. I am not acquainted with the one rubber plantation 

 described in the latter publication, and cannot say that all the 

 statements are untrue, but I will say that if even part of them are 

 true it is the exception and not the general rule as to rubber 

 plantations. I know something of that southern country. I 

 have traveled the LTsumacinta, Grijalva, and Tulija rivers; I 

 have covered the distance between Monte Cristo and Salto de 

 Agua by way of Palenque on horseback, time and again. I have 

 visited more than a score of rubber plantations, and have failed 

 to find on any of them conditions as pictured in the magazine 

 referred to. 



Take our own plantation — Rio Michol Plantation Co. — which 

 is typical of the country. We secure our own labor and do not 

 employ a labor agent. Thus the laborer gets every dollar that 

 is charged against him. He is not compelled to buy from the 

 company store unless he sees fit, but can often purchase an 

 article there cheaper than he can in the towns. Men, women 

 and children are not huddled together in a pen at night under 

 lock and key, but each family has its own home to enter and 

 leave at will. When a laborer has worked out his indebtedness 

 and returns to his home town he is in as good health as the day 

 he set foot on the plantation. And to show you he is well 

 pleased with his life there he almost invariably wants to borrow 

 more money before going home, promising to return in a month 

 or two, or whenever we need him, and he keeps his promise. 



The Rio Michol Rubber Plantation Co. (San Francisco, Cali- 



