July i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



331 



REDUCED TAX ON ACRE RUBBER. 



THE United States consul at Para, Brazil — Colonel Louis 

 H. Ayme — reported under date of May 10: 



'• Until lately the state of Amazonas has imposed an export 

 tax on all rubber coming into its jurisdiction from up the Ama- 

 zon river. Now the Federal government has erected Acre into 

 a territory which is to be governed by the Federal government. 

 Naturally, all the revenues therefrom will be collected and 

 used by the Federal government. The export tax has been 

 reduced from 20 per cent, of the declared value to 15 per cent., 

 and the owner or purchaser of rubber grown outside of the 

 state of Amazonas is at liberty to ship his rubber from Manaos 

 or ParA, as he pleases. 



"The amount of rubber affected by the new regulation is 

 estimated at not less than 7000 tons. Of this quantity, it is 

 believed that 5000 tons will come to Para. Five thousand tons 

 of rubber are worth about $9,000,000, and it will be seen, there- 

 fore that this will mean a considerable increment to the busi- 

 ness activity of this city, which has declined a good deal in 

 the last few years, while it will mean a corresponding diminu- 

 tion of the importance of Manaos. 



" I do not believe that the reduction in value in the export 

 tax will affect the invoice of foreign price of rubber ; if anyone 

 profits thereby, it will be the rubber collector, or first seller. 

 He may, and probably will, receive nearly all of the difference 

 in tax in an enhanced price for his merchandise." 



Under date of June 1, Kanthack & Co., of Para, reported as 

 follows, indicating a conflict of jurisdiction over the taxing of 

 rubber from the Acre : 



" In Manaos receivers have had to store 400 tons in conse- 

 quence of a dispute, which has arisen between thestate and the 

 Central government, concerning duties which the latter claims, 

 but the former refuses to acknowledge as pertaining to the 

 higher authority, and until this question is settled the rubber 

 cannot be disposed of." A later report said: "The rubber 

 retained at Manaos by the State has been released, under pro- 

 test against the Federal government." 



The Brazilian Review (Rio Janeiro) of May 24 stated that 

 the Amazonas state government at Mandos, where an export 

 duty of 23 per cent, is imposed, had protested to the Federal 

 government against a rate of only 15 per cent, being charged 

 on rubber from the Acre district, on the ground that such pol- 

 icy would encourage the smuggling of rubber from Amazonas 

 into the Acre territory. Hence the Federal minister of finance 

 had decided that all rubber entering from the Purus or Jurua 

 shall pav duties at the rate of 23 per cent., the excess of 8 per 

 cent, to be refunded to the owner upon proof of the origin of 

 his rubber in the Federal, or Acre, territory. 



PROFITS ON CONGO RUBBER. 



THE net profits for 1903 of the Societe Anversoise poor le 

 Commerce au Congo, based principally upon trading in 

 rubber in the Congo Free State, were stated at the general meet- 

 ing at Brussels, on June 6, to have been 2,095,897 francs [ = $404,- 

 508.12]. A dividend of 500 francs per share was declared. There 

 are 3400 shares " without designation of value," though com- 

 monly reckoned at 500 francs each, one half the shares being 

 held by the state. With the shares at 500 francs, the last divi- 

 dend amounts to 100 per cent., which is double the rate for 

 the preceding year. The operations of the company for the 



last two years have been : 



1902, 1903. 



Caoutchouc collected kilos 476,250 366,200 



Ivory collected 10,608 10,870 



The Belgian journal, La Chronique Coloniale, announced re- 

 cently that the Socie 6 A B I R, one of the large concessionaire 

 trading companies dealing in Congo rubber, would declare a 

 dividend, payable July 1, of 500 francs per share. This would 

 be equal to 100 per cent. The Chronique mentions that the 

 amount would have been greater, had the directors not consid- 

 ered it advisable to set aside a portion of the profits to take 

 over an interest in a rubber plantation in the Malay states. 

 Last year the dividend was reported in these pages at 850 francs 

 per share. There are 2000 shares, of 500 francs each, one half 

 owned by the Congo Free State. On May 6 these shares were 

 quoted at 13,950 francs each ; on May 1 last year, the figure was 

 15,350 francs ; in 1901 there were sales as high as 28,925 francs, 

 but the dividend then was over 400 per cent. 



INDIA-RUBBER GOODS IN COMMERCE. 



EXPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES. 



OFFICIAL statement of values for April, 1904, and the 

 first ten months of five fiscal years, beginning July 1, 

 from the treasury department at Washington : 



DETAILS OF RUBBER FOOTWEAR EXI'ORTS. 



1899-1900. 1900-01. 1901-O:*. 1902-03 1903-04. 



Pairs exported. .. . 597,614 1,349,063 2,367,611 2.153,127 2,117,043 



Value $329,686 $662,971 $939,671 $983,044 



Average per pair.. 55.1c. 49.1c. 39-7 c. 45.7 c. 



Exports of reclaimed rubber have been as follows, in value : 

 $508,639 for first ten months of this fiscal year ; §350,848 for 

 same months of last year ; S3 18.711 for ten months of 1901- 02. 



$971,625 

 45-9 c. 



GUTTA-PERCHA ROD FREE OF DUTY. 



IN a decision written by Byron S. Waite, the board of Gen- 

 eral Appraisers [United States customs service] at New 

 York, on April 12, sustained a protest by Connellan Brothers, 

 of Boston, against the assessment of duty at 35 per cent, of an 

 importation by the Kempshall Manufacturing Co., as manufac- 

 tures of Gutta-percha. It was claimed by the importers to be 

 free of duty, as " crude Gutta-percha." The decision reads : 



- - - The article is Gutta-percha molded into cylindrical rods about 

 an inch and a half in diameter, having a chocolate color, and was im- 

 ported by the Kempshall Manufacturing Co. for use in the manufacture 

 of golf balls. It appears from the evidence that the importing company 

 ordered the goods as crude Gutta-percha ; that while some of the im- 

 purities have evidently been removed, the product has to undergo fur- 

 ther elaborate purifying processes before it is suitable for making golf 

 balls. The importers testified that the form in which the goods are im- 

 ported is rather a disadvantage than otherwise, and that, so far as their 

 purposes are concerned, it does not differ in material from Gutta-percha 

 in the form of rough slabs, which they also import. None of these facts 

 were controverted at the hearing. Gutta-percha, partially cleaned or 

 purified, has been hitherto held by the board to be crude Gutta-percha 

 within the meaning of paragraph 570. - - - Upon the record in the 

 case now before it and the evidence in the cases cited, the board is led 

 to the conclusion that the merchandise in question is, for commercial 

 purposes, crude Gutta-percha. 



