84 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, 1903. 



producers of rubber would get less money for their product. 

 One of the advantages claimed is the saving of freight on ac- 

 count of the loss of weight after the rubber is cut. I don't be- 

 lieve this shrinkage would amount to 2 per cent., which is too 

 little to be considered. The present method of buying rubber 

 at Antwerp is abominable, but I believe it would be worse at 

 Boma. When I say abominable, I mean to the buyer. Under 

 the present system every buyer, after getting samples, bids as 

 much as he possibly can. He may not bid high enough to get 

 what he wants, so the following month he goes higher, and so 

 it is that the prices are continually being forced up. If it were 

 an auction where a man had more bids than one he could start 

 low and go up; under the present system every buyer has to 

 start at his top limit." 



In the recent Note of the Congo Free State government, in 

 reply to the British government's Note to the Powers in relation 

 to alleged abuses permitted on the Congo, this statement ap- 

 pears, and it may have been the basis of the report that the sale 

 of rubber is to be transferred from Antwerp to Boma : 



The policy of the state has not, as has been stated, killed trade. On 

 the contrary it has created it, and it ensures the perpetuation of the ma- 

 terials of trade. It is thanks to it that on the commercial market of 

 Antwerp and very soon in the Congo itself — the possibility of establishing 

 there sale depots is being examined — there can be offered annually to 

 everybody without distinction, without favor or monopoly, 5CCO tons of 

 rubber collected in the Congo, while formerly, for instance in 1887, the 

 export of rubber hardly reached 30 ton?. 



A MUCH TRAVELLED CANARD. 

 The Belgian journal Industrie et Commerce du Caoutchouc 

 quotes the journal L'Amirique Latine a report credited to the 

 Venezuelan Herald, regarding a newly discovered rubber pro- 

 ducing plant in the United States, of which great things are 

 expected, especially due to " des experiences faites clandestine- 

 ment par la Goodrich Rubber Company." This report so far 

 has gone only half way around the world ; by the time our con- 

 temporaries in Hanoi and A'lahabad have discussed the 

 "chico" plant, no doubt its merit will have become exagger- 

 ated to the extent of making it superior to Para rubber. And 

 the " Goodrich Rubber Company " will be heard of having de- 

 veloped the greatest discovery of the age in respect to rubber. 

 Evidently the company referred to have conducted their ex- 

 periments so "clandestinely" that their right hand does not 

 know what their left is doing. At any rate, in September last 

 we published a report on the subject, stating : " Mr. B. G. 

 Work, vice president of that company, informs The India 

 Rubber World that he never heard of the matter until he 

 saw it in the newspapers. In other words, 'the story was made 

 out of whole cloth.' One of our correspondents intimates 

 that the writer who first gave publicity to the story was the vic- 

 tim of a jocular young rubber man in Denver."= = Neveitheless 

 there is something doing in Colorado which indicates a belief 

 on the part of local capitalists in the future of that State as a 

 producer of rubber, as our news columns show. 



RUBBER PLANTING ENTERPRISES. 



IN a paper on " Rubbers and Fibers" read by J. Cameron, 

 F.L.S., before the United Planters' Association of the state 

 of Mysore (southern India) at their recent conference at 

 Bangalore, referred to the experiments in planting in that 

 region three American species of rubber — the rubbers of Paid 

 and Ceara, and Casiilloa elastica. He was disposed to give the 

 preference to the Ceard rubber (Manihot Glaziovii), which, in 

 the last decade, had thriven amazingly, and had certainly come 

 to stay in the country. It will flourish in dry situations, from 

 the sea level up to at least 4000 feet. Trees ranging in age 

 from 8 to 14 years had been found to contain a liberal amount 

 of latex, which flows freely. One tree, tapped twice a week for 

 three months, had yielded a little over 3 pounds of rubber. 

 Mr. Cameron thinks the Hevea Braziliensis not likely to be of 

 much practical use in the drier parts of India, though succeed- 

 ing in Ceylon and the Malay peninsula. At Bangalore the tree 

 languishes and dies during the long dry season, and irrigation 

 does not give relief. The Caslil/oa elastica he regards as inter- 

 mediate between the other two species and likely to do well in 

 the moister regions of the coffee zone. 



THE SEREMBAN ESTATE RUBBER CO., LIMITED. 

 This company has been formed to take over the Seremban 

 estate, in Negri Sembilan, one of the Federated Malay States. 

 The authorized capital is 1,000,000 rupees [=$324,433,331, di- 

 vided into 10,000 shares. The estate, to be taken over as from 

 January 1, 1904. comprises 3492 acres, held under a 999 year 

 lease from the government. There are 412 acres originally 

 planted to Liberian coffee, which in 1898 were planted through- 

 out with Para rubber 20 x 20 feet, and three years ago an inter- 

 mediate planting of rubber was made. The coffee is estimated 

 to yield 500 piculs [=66.600 pounds] in 1904, but very little 

 thereafter. There are about 40,000 rubber trees $% years old, 



10,000 trees 3^ years old, and 30,000 trees 2% years old, and 

 about 20,000 on a new clearing. The selling price of the estate 

 is 450,000 rupees [=$145,995]. including 360,600 rupees [ = $1 16,- 

 990 66], for the coffee and rubber land, which is estimated at 700 

 rupees [=$227] per acre. The vendors accept in half payment 

 2250 shares, the remainder of the purchase price to be paid in 

 cash. The first issue of shares (in addition to 2250 mentioned) 

 is 4750 shares. It is proposed to make new clearings as rapidly 

 as possible, say 200 acres in 1904. and for this purpose arrange- 

 ments have been made to borrow money as needed, up to 

 ,£5000 [=$24,332.50], at 5 per cent. While no attempt is made 

 to estimate future profits, the company's prospectus sets forth 

 reasons for the belief that they will afford a good return for 

 the investment. The owners of the property are E. S. Grigson, 

 W. Saunders, W. H. Figg, L. Davidson, D. R. Marshall, V. R. 

 Wickwar, and the heirs of D. Cameron and E. D. Harrison. 

 The first directors of the company are Messrs. Grigson, Saun- 

 ders, and Figg. 



GOLCONDA ESTATE RUBBER CO., LIMITED. 

 This company (registered at Colombo, October 16) has been 

 formed to purchase the Golconda estate, in the district of 

 Klang, Selangor (Federated Malay States), comprising 970 

 acres, for 90,000 rupees [=$29,199], as from January 1, 1903, to 

 be paid for in cash, or shares, or both, as may be arranged. 

 The capital is 300,000 rupees [=$97,330], in 3000 shares. 



THE SOUTHERN CEYLON TEA AND RUBBER CO., LIMITED. 



Organized to purchase the property of the Udugama Tea 

 and Timber Co. (in liquidation) and plant the estate in rubber. 

 The authorized capital is 1,000,000 rupees [ = $304,156.25], in 

 10.000 shares, of which 4500 shares are offered for subscription 

 in Ceylon and in Australia. The company are paying 270,000 

 rupees [=$85,163.75] for 7398 acres, of which 4 80 are planted 



