Mav 1, 1912,] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



391 



Some Notes on Rubber Planting. 



TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY PER CENT. DIVIDEND. 



0.\'E of the briefest and most concise annual reports issyed of 

 late by plantation companies, is that of the Pataling Rubber 

 Estates Syndicate. Limited, presented at its ninth annujiJ 

 general meeting on March 21, last. With a paid-up capital equal- 

 ing $112,500, the company produced in 1911 rubber to the value of 

 about $419,000; thus turning over its capital almost four times 

 witliin a year, and making a net profit of about $288,000. 



L'nder this fortunate combination of circum,stances the com- 

 pany was able to pay three interim dividends, each of 50 per cent, 

 and in addition a final dividend of 100 per cent. This result is 

 due to the fact that the production of 333,044 pounds cost f. o. b. 

 at Port Swettenham llVirf. (23.31 cents) per pound, or including 

 English charges Is. 7.24d. (39.02 cents) ; while the average gross 

 price realized was Sj. O.Ud. ($1.2189). 



This company owns 2,206 acres in Selangor, Federated Malaj' 

 States, of which 1,467 acres are planted. It was incorporated in 

 1903 ; plantings following successively until 1908. The first yield 

 was in 1907 of 58,064 pounds, which allowed of paying 35 per 

 cent. ; production and dividends increasing until 325 per cent, 

 was reached in 1910. For 1911 there has been a slightly higher 

 \ield than in 1910, but the cost of production has advanced, so 

 the dividend is only the modest one of 250 per cent. 



ANGLO-MALAY RUBBER COMPANY. LIMITED. 



According to the report presented at the London meeting of 

 April 24, the 1911 crop of rubber amounted to 780,972 pounds 

 sold at an average gross price of 5s. 2.54d. ($1.2670j per pound. 

 The cost, including all London charges, was \s. 8^rf. (41.56 

 cents). The total dividend paid for 1911 was 70 per cent. For 

 1912 the crop is estimated at 900,000 pounds. 



GOLDEN HOPE RUBBER ESTATE, LIMITED. 



The annual report of the above company presented at the 

 London meeting of April 2, recorded a production of 1(^,555 

 pounds, costing, including London charges. Is. 8.91rf. (42.23 

 cents), and realizing a gross average of 5.?. 0.43d. ($1.2229). The 

 dividend upon a paid-up capital equaling $220.(XX) was 30 

 per cent. Sales of rubber in 1911 aggregated about $140,(X)0. It 

 is estimated that the new year's crop will amount to 150,000 

 pounds. 



LAC INDUSTRY FOR CEYLON. 



Lac is a resinous substance, produced bj' a species of scale in- 

 sect which lives on the tender branches of certain trees, of which 

 they suck the juice and secrete the resin. In harvesting lac, the 

 branches with resinous incrustations are removed from the 

 trees, the resin being scraped ofif and graded for export in the 

 form of lac, or shellac, for which there is a large industrial 

 demand. 



The systematic cultivation of lac was begun in India com- 

 paratively recently, and it is now proposed to extend the system 

 to Ceylon. A paper on the subject was lately read at the Ceylon 

 Board of Agriculture. 



MOTOR CARS FOR THE MALAY STATES. 



Contrary to the experience of almost every country, the Fed- 

 erated Malay States have been able to carry out their develop- 

 ment work w-ithout borrowing. Not only are the States free from 

 debt, but they have constructed roads and railways, waterworks 

 and other public works out of revenue, and have built up a re- 

 serve fund largely in excess of expenditure. In fact, the finances 

 of the country are in such a healthy condition that the Federation 

 is advancing to Siam the sum of £4,000,000 in order that a rail- 

 way may be constructed through her Eastern States and thus 

 form a link between Siamese and Alalayan territory. 



.As the "Financial News'' remarks, no country possesses a bet- 

 ter road system. The mileage at the end of 1909 was 1,875 met- 

 alled roads, 225 J4 unmetalled and 1,477 miles of bridle roads. 

 These roads have a splendid surface, and, consequently, motoring 

 and motor traction are carried on extensively throughout the in- 

 terior. Motor-car manufacturers in search of fresh fields would 

 find promising territriry in the Malay States. 



BALATA IN FRENCH GUIANA. 



It is stated by officials of that colony that the balata indus- 

 try should be one of the most important in French Guiana. 

 Balata is produced in three different districts — namely, Mana, 

 Maroni and Iracouba. There is no export duty, and conces- 

 sions are granted freely to French citizens of good financial 

 standing — the limitations being that no one man shall receive 

 over 25,000 hectares, wl-(ich is the equivalent of 61,775 acres. 

 There is a fee of 5 centimes (one cent) — per hectare, with a 

 minimum of 250 francs ($50). The balata of this colony is re- 

 ported to be of the best quality — but the great drawback has 

 been in this industry— as in all agricultural activities in French 

 Guiana — the difficulty of securing economical labor. 



RUBBER OUTLOOK IN PHILIPPINES. 



Mr. A. \V. Prautch. an authority on rubber planting in the 

 Philippines, recently contributed a valuable article on this sub- 

 ject to "The Cable News," published in Manila. He goes into con- 

 siderable detail, taking up the question of climate and rainfall, 

 soil, and cost of starting and maintaining a plantation. His con- 

 cluding paragraph under the caption, "Will Para Grow Here," 

 is as follows : 



"There have been enough experiments in growing Para rubber 

 in the Philippines to warrant the conclusion that it will succeed 

 here. The Basilan Plantation Company have some hundreds of 

 Para trees in bearmg. They have made two shipments of rubber 

 to Hamburg, Germany; the following is an extract from the re- 

 port on this rubber : 'The sheets were thin, medium colored, 

 transparent, and of very good quality. It has good nerve and is 

 well prepared. Such rubber will always find a good sale here.' 

 Mr. Thos. D. Aitken visited the Baco River plantation in north- 

 ern Mindoro ; he found a Para nursery in which the seeds were 

 planted four years ago and left. The outer trees that got light and 

 air measure 16 inches to 22 inches in circumference, three feet 

 from the ground. Some twenty other persons have planted 

 rubber, and the experiments are satisfactory as far as they have 

 gone." 



"A MERE DROP IN THE BUCKET." 



The daily press when it discourses on rubber is always inter- 

 esting—if not always instructive. "The Globe"' of New York 

 recently had an editorial on the prospect of lower prices for the 

 consumer of tires in which this statement appears : 



"Rubber plantations have sprung up all over the world in 

 tropical regions suitable for the rubber tree. Within a few 

 years the cultivated product is likely to form a very consider- 

 able percentpge of the total supply. .\t present, of course, it is 

 a mere drop in the bucket. " 



Considering the fact that plantation rubber produced during 

 1911 amounted to 14,200 tons, or practically one-sixth of the 

 entire production of crude rubber from all sources, to refer to 

 it as "a mere drop in the bucket," seems rather slighting, even 

 for a care-free and jocund daily. Six of these drops would com^ 

 pletely fill the bucket. 



