September 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



597 



mill, and perhaps a calender for calendering sheets, and a little 

 vulcanizing press, could be laid down, it is asserted, for some- 

 thing like $1,250. 



The problem is to get uniformity, the lack of which is regarded 

 as the growing evil of the whole rubber planting industry. Let 

 us hope that the New York Rubber Congress will carry the 

 matter a long step further, in continuation of the valuable work 

 done by the London Congress. 



BRAZILIAN NOTES. 



T TNDER date of July 26, a Brazilian decree was issued em- 

 ^^ bodying the new regulations of the Brazilian Minister of 

 Agriculture, adopted as a result of the late rubber congress. 

 These regulations were reproduced in The India Rubber 

 World of June, 1912 (p. 427). 



They provide for a reduction in the cost of material and 

 tools, for prizes to be given to rubber growers, and for estab- 

 lishing experimental farms and rubber factories in Brazil. 

 Further inducements are to be offered to immigrants, and it 

 is proposed to erect hospitals in the Amazon Valley to serve 

 as a nucleus of agricultural colonies which are to be founded. 

 It is also intended to reduce freights on the Amazon River, 

 to improve the navigation of other important rivers, to estab- 

 lish food-producing factories, to lease State properties, and to 

 organize triennial exhibitions. The measure, which will come 

 into force immediately, has been well received. 



THE BRAZILIAN RUBBER SYNDICATE A FACT. 



According to a recent report from the American Consul at 

 Para, the Brazilian Rubber Syndicate is now an accomplished 

 fact. He writes under date of July IS as follows: 



"Final arrangements have been concluded between the Bank 

 of Brazil and the parties interested in and forming the syndicate 

 organized in 1910 to increase the price of rubber whereby the 

 latter will, under conditions as yet unknown, take charge of and 

 dispose of same. The amount of rubber held by the Bank of 

 Brazil as collateral for money advanced to finance the afore- 

 mentioned scheme is 2,400 tons. I am informed that it is the 

 present intention of the directors in charge of this liquidation 

 to dispose of this rubber to bona fide manufacturers only, hop- 

 ing in this way to avoid manipulation by dealers who might be 

 interested in affecting the price of the coming crop. I am fur- 

 ther informed that the rubber is only to be sold and shipped 

 from here, as its storage in either London, Liverpool or New 

 York might have the effect of depressing present prices. This 

 rubber is all of first quality, being bone-dry. and should on its 

 merits command a higher price than new rubber." 



AMAZON STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY, LIMITED. 



The winding up of this company, which commenced in May, 

 1911, was practically completed by May 4, 1912, at the date of 

 the report lately issued by the liquidators. 



By the sale of the fleet of steamers, lighters and tugs, the fixed 

 property in Brazil has been disposed of upon terms which, in the 

 liquidators' opinion, were very advantageous to the company. 

 This almost total realization of assets has permitted the return 

 to the shareholders of the whole of the issued capital of 40,419 

 shares of il2 lOs. each, fully paid, in addition to a surplus of 

 £2 per share. A further small return still remains to be made, 

 the amount and date of which cannot yet be announced ; several 

 of the items still forming the subject of litigation. 



A notable feature of the liquidation is the relatively small ex- 

 pense it has involved. The collection of nearly £600,000 has 

 been effected at a cost for salaries in London and Brazil, rep- 

 resenting less than £3,000, or about yi per cent. 



SOME NEWS NOTES FROM MANAOS. 



By a Resident Correspondent. 



THE Commercial Association is still actively engaged in prepa- 

 rations for the forthcoming rubber exhibition. By the 

 steamers leaving here (Manaos) August 17 and 27, thirty tons of 

 uncut rubber will be forwarded to New York to be placed on 

 view at the exhibition. Among this rubber, which will come 

 from the Matto Grosso and Acre districts, as well as from 

 Amazonas, there will be one "pelle" weighing 518 ks. (1,140 

 lbs.). Another interesting exhibit will be a section of a very 

 large Hevea tree. 



Illustrated pamphlets in three languages are being prepared 

 for free distribution from the Amazonas section. There will 

 be a pamphlet for each State represented. The illustrations 

 in the book of the Acre district are from photographs taken 

 by Prof. Ule, a German explorer, who visited the Acre in be- 

 half of the Manaos Commercial Association last year. He 

 made a full report of the conditions found, and of the pros- 

 pects for development of that district, which he will publish 

 later. 



The Amazonas pamphlet will be written by Sr. Manoel 

 Lobato, the private secretary of Governor Bittencourt. The 

 governor is displaying great interest in the plans of the Com- 

 mercial Association, and is doing all in his power to assist 

 them in making this State's representation at the exhibition 

 worthy of the region from which it comes. He is sending Sr. 

 Lobato to New York as his personal representative, in ad- 

 dition to the representatives of the Commercial Associations 

 named in the Manaos Notes, which appeared in the July issuse of 

 The India Rubber World. 



There will be one contestant from Amazonas for the prize 

 offered for the best plantation rubber. Sr. Da Costa, a young 

 Brazilian, educated in England, who with his father has rubber 

 estates on the Madeira River, will show sheet rubber made by 

 himself from the milk of planted trees, cured by the Eastern 

 process, in place of the original Brazilian method of smoking it. 

 He claims that his product is superior to that usually shipped 

 from here. 



The political situation here has cleared up. Before the elec- 

 tion (July 14) there was a general feeling that there might be 

 an outbreak of the bad feeling between the Nery and Bitten- 

 court factions, similar to that of October, 1910. However, a 

 conciliatory ticket was arranged, and the candidates, Dr. Jona- 

 thas Pedrosa for governor, and Sr. Guerreiro Antony (vice- 

 governor), were elected for a term of four years from Janu- 

 ary 1, 1913. Dr. Pedrosa. who now lives in Rio de Janeiro, 

 is an old Mananense. and it is expected that he will take great 

 interest in the development of this State. 



There has been talk for some time of running a railway from 

 here to Itacoatiara. Dr. Jorge Estrellita has received a con- 

 cession from the Government, giving him permission to build 

 it. The first stake of the preliminary survey was driven last 

 month, attended by an elaborate public demonstration. As 

 Itacoatiara is a river port easily reached by steamers in a few 

 hours from here, the necessity of the proposed railway is not 

 apparent. 



The official opening of the Madeira-Maniore Railway has 

 been postponed until next month (September). Mr. R. H. 

 May, head of the contractors, has left for Rio de Janeiro, going 

 thence to Europe. Mr. Jekyll sails by this steamer for New 

 York. Mr. Dohse, who has been chief engineer of the under- 

 taking for the past two years, has been left in charge. He is 

 now on his way to Bolivia to start work on another piece of 

 railway to join the Madeira-Mamore. 



The accepted authority on South American rubber — "The 

 Rubber Country of the Amazon." by Henry C. Pearson. 



Should be on every rubber man's desk— Crude Rubber and 

 Compounding Ingredients; Rubber Trees and All About Them; 

 Rubber Trade Directory of the World. 



