April 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



339 



Japanese Rubber Planting in Malay Peninsula. 



By Our Regular 



WHILE the development of Malayan rubber plantations has 

 been largely effected by British capital, a certain share 

 uf that result is due to the operations of Japanese in- 

 vestors, who were encouraged by the exceedingly profitable 

 character of the business in 1910, to plant Para trees in the 

 Malay Peninsula. By August, 1911, these planters, 77 in num- 

 ber, had acquired, it is estimated, about 83,700 acres, of which 

 about 15,800 had been planted, the aggregate investments rep- 

 resenting about $640,000. 



Of these 77 plantations, about 57 are being operated as an 

 additional occupation by Japanese dwellers at Singapore and 

 other cities in the Federated Malay States. While it is claimed 

 that these plantations have prospects of becoming more profitable 

 than those owned by Europeans and Americans, about three- 

 fourths of the planters are short of the funds necessary for their 

 cultivation. 



Owing to the disinclination on their part, by reason of dif- 

 ferences in language and customs, to liave dealings with the 

 European and Chinese banks (with the plantation lands as 

 security), and also from the wish to avoid the high interest 

 charged by Indian usurers, the Japanese dwellers in the Pen- 

 insula established the system of "Lottery Associations" ("Mu- 

 jinko," as called in Japanese), as an organ of monetary circula- 

 tion for rubber plantations. 



The rudimentary and very imperfect constitution of the lot- 



'Correspoihleiil. 



tery association is as follows : "The duration of the association 

 is usually fixed at 25 months, the membership numbering 25, 

 each member paying a regular monthly contribution of $60; or 

 in some cases $20 to $30. All the money thus contributed can 

 be borrowed for the purpose of his rubber plantation, by the 

 member to whom it is adjudicated as a result of bidding. He 

 has to give two or three sureties, paying the stipulated rate of 

 interest as well as all the expenses of the monthly meeting. Any 

 borrower under this system cannot bid again nor borrow any 

 more from the lottery association, but must continue his monthly 

 contributions and pay the interest on the amount borrowed ; the 

 number of bidders thus decreases each month ; the rate of in- 

 terest, as fixed by the monthly bids equaling 18 to 36 per cent, 

 per annum. The first money contributed, however, can be bor- 

 rowed only by a member who is a standing manager and one 

 of L.ie founders." 



Now, there are thirty such associations among the Japanese 

 planters in the Malay Peninsula. Some planters contribute to 

 all of them ; a larger number contribute to over half of them. 



If the planters each contribute $30 monthly to thirty lottery 

 associations (each with 25 members or partners), the total ad- 

 vance to planters for rubber plantations would be $22,500 per 

 month. In addition to the help these associations give planters 

 in need of funds, they serve the purpose of savings banks for 

 tlieir contributories. 



JAPANESE INDIA-RUBBER IMPORTS. 



1909 



1910 



1911 



$2,318,426 



$2,939,040 



$1,546,184 



As crude rubber is free under both measures, the growth of imports from 1,321,463 pounds in 1909 to 1,580,918 pounds in 

 1910, and 2,054,864 pounds in 1911, reflects the progress of the Japanese rubber manufacturing industry. 



