-12 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



|( )i iuii: K 1, 1><10. 



hoped that the Koveniment will not experience too great clifti- 

 culties in furnishing an adequate quantity of foodstufTs within 

 the means of our laboring classes. 



TRADE CONDITIONS. 



Unnustic trade has either been greatly curtailed or radically 

 altered in character, while our foreign trade is greatly lessened. 

 We cannot carry on normal business relations with the Amer- 

 icas and other countries beyond the seas, but trade is fair with 

 .\ustria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. A regrettable develop- 

 ment is that neutral countries, like the Netherlands, Scandi- 

 navia and Switzerland, to whom we can make deliveries, are 

 neglecting our markets, obeying, doubtless, tlu- demands of our 

 island enemy. 



R.WV MATERIALS. 



The blockade has stopped or greatly diminished the amount 

 of raw materials, which we imported in vast quantities before 

 the war, and such materials are scarce and very costly now that 

 the stocks most manufacturers had in reserve have become 

 exhausted. 



As has been reported in previous letters, the government 

 placed many re-.trictions upon the use of raw materials in man- 

 ufacture. Production is limited on all articles except those 

 needed by the govcrnnunt. 



IKirDM lUBBER. 



-Mthough jmall quantities of crude rubber are constantly ar- 

 riving, they have little or no eflfect on the market for this com- 

 modity. Prices continu? very high, from 30 to 40 marks per 

 hall kilogram [$7.14 to $9.52 per pound], according to quality. 



Keclamied ruMier and the artificial sorts also obtain very 

 high prices, the latter being as costly as the natural product and 

 tinding a market only on account of the present abnormal con- 

 ditions. 



T\ubb(5r substitute sells at from 2 marks to 2..S0 marks |49 to 

 (•0 cents] ;a pouiTd. 



L'nusually high percentages of reclaimed, artiiicial and sub- 

 stitute rubber are being used in compounds for rubljer goods 

 for the army and navy. \'o crude rubber is alUjwed for private 

 use, and substitute (|ualities arc alone available for this purpose. 

 Kedaimed rubber is used very extensively, mostly for military 

 rcqiiiremenls, in spite of its quality, which is leaving more and 

 more to be desired. 



( OI.I.KCTIO.V OF RUliHER WASTF.. 

 1 be govtrnment has ordered that any (|uantity of rubber, 

 either crude or Milcanized or reclaimed, exceeding 1 kilogram 

 12.20 pounds] ill weight, is to be turned over to the concerns 

 designated by the Rubber Clearing House. The names of these 

 concerns were piddished in the August 1916 issue of The 



Ino1.\ RlBKEK W'nKl.n. 



.Ml rubber scrap must be sent to the nearest of these dealers 

 and the cost of forwarding is refunded to the shipper. Rubber 

 scrap is classed in ,^5 grades .-iiid paynurit is made according to 

 the schedule puldisbed. 



The least valualile grade is made up i.f cycle tire beads. Hard 

 rubber is not ]uircliased, nor is arni<jred hose, except when the 

 wire has lieen removed from the latter. 



Rubber thread waste is paid for at the rate of 40 cents per 

 pound: rubl)er footwear at IS cents a pound; inner tubes fetch 

 70 eiiits, if soft and in gnod condilioii ; if crusty, I'lily 30 cen.ts 

 a pounil. 



The siddier^ at the front are doing much good work in col- 

 lecting waste rubber, as well as other kinds of waste materials. 



These prices may appear extraordinary to your readers, but 

 the\ must remember that we are living under conditions far 

 from normal. 



The cost of the war will be paid by future generations, and 

 this l)urdcn will be only a slight reminder to them of the sacri- 

 fices and privations endured for them by their ancestors, 



Rubber Planting Notes. 



. CRUDE RUBBER INDUSTRY IN BURMA, 



AC'COKl'IXC. to a report from the Xetherlands Consul at 

 Rangoon, the total exports of crude rubber from Burma 

 during the fiscal J'car 191.S-16 amounted to 1.28.S,984 pounds. 

 The following talile shous the area under rubber cultivation 

 in Hurma and the amount exported in the past five years, as 

 given in the Report on Maritime Trade and Customs .Adir.in- 

 istraiiiiii of. Burma : 



Year Acres. Pound-^- 



1911.!: 32,772 310,340 



loij.i.i. . 44,02'' 526,176 



Hllj-U... 50,946 765,072 



I914.1.S 57,785 987,392 



191.=;-16 57,843 1,285,984 



.\s a result of discussion at tlie beginning of the fi^>al year 

 1915-16, between the Lieutenant-Governor of Burma aii<i repre- 

 sentatives of the Lower lUirma Planters" Association, tlie rules 

 regulating grants and assessments of land for rublier cultivation 

 in Burma have lieen considerably modified. The planters repre- 

 sented that the extension of rubber growing was being hindered 

 l)y the liability of rubber estates, leaded under the rules then in 

 force in lower Burma, to a land revenue assessment wliicli might 

 ri.se to as mucli as 2} rupees [83 cents] an acre. 



Accordingly, a revision of rules was agreed upon, providing 

 for the issue of grants instead of leases, and tlie levy of royalty 

 on the net value of the ruljber. combined with a moderate 

 revenue assosmeiit, instead of the previous liability to land 

 revenue, the rate; of assessment to be reconsidered every 20 

 vears. 



This new rule only affects lands granted for rubber cultiva- 

 tion on and after July 1, 1916. For land granted or leased 

 under pre\ ions rules, certain aliatements of royalty and land 

 rcMiiue assessments are allowed, and owners are offered the 

 opportunity of surrendering tlieir land at any time in the next 

 ten years, and of taking out a grant under the new rules. 



Experience is said to show that large areas in P.urma are 

 suitable for rubber cultivation, and the joint committee, formed 

 to draft the foregoing rules, considers that an estate in full bear- 

 ing should yield not less than 350 to 400 pound>^ of rtibher per 

 acre. 



EXPORTS OF CRUDE RUBBER FROM M.^LAYA. 



in Ills report for 1915, the Director of .Agriculture, Federated 

 Mala\ States, says: ''The rub1)er crop fur the b'ederated Malay 

 States is retiinu'd at 36,.'?S0 tons, and to this must be added 

 6.666 tons from tlie unfederated states under British protection. 

 It would prnhably be safe to add 8,000 tons for tlie colony, 

 making a imal of about 51,000 tons for Mala\a. B.ut it must be 

 remeiiiliered that these returns only include properties of 100 

 acres nr iiiure area, and no account is taken of the output of 

 ruliber from small holdings. The export returns of the com- 

 mi^sinner of lr:irk- and customs show that 44,523 tons of crude 

 rublier were exported from the Federated Malay States in 1915. 

 ] have no reliable ligures at present of the export of rulihei- 

 from the colony and the other states of Malaya, Iml from 



