December 1, 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



137 



the agricultural resources of the country develop. Rice-harvest, 

 fortunately, comes during the dry season when there is least 

 demand for labor on the rubber plantations. Various attempts 

 have been made to transplant coolie labor from the overpopulated 

 districts of Tonkin, where the laborer is more skilful and more 

 industrious and receives smaller wages. This may prove to be 

 the future solution of this problem if it should ever become a 

 serious one. There are many Chinese coolies in Saigon and 

 Cholon, although none has yet been employed on the rubber 

 plantations. Chinese labor is generally slightly more expensive 

 but considerably more eflScient than Annamite labor, and there 

 would be no difficulty in inducing Chinese coolies to come in 

 sufficient numbers to supply any demand of the labor market ; 

 but Chinese laborers are more independent, and it is quite likely 

 that the French government would object to any considerable 

 influx of Chinese coolie laborers into Cochin China. 



The question of health-condition is not a serious one among 

 the coolies of Cochin China. There is always some cholera 

 and often bubonic and pneumonic plague among the natives, and 

 it is thought that the red soil of the rubber plantation is condu- 

 cive to a peculiar native disease, which the French call "fievre 

 du bois" (fever of the woods) ; but there has never been a seri- 

 ous epidemic of any kind on any of the rubber plantations. 

 Famines are unknown in Cochin China. Since the beginning ot 

 the rubber mdustry here, the annual exportation of rice from 

 the port of Saigon has never fallen below 600,000 tons. Almost 

 every year Cochin China is called upon to relieve the sufferings 

 caused by drought or flood in Tonkin. 



TRANSPORTATION. 

 After the rubber is prepared, there remains the question of 

 its transportation to Saigon. Some of the older plantations; 

 e. g., the Belland Estates, are within sight of the city; but the 

 newer plantations in the red soil district are more distant. The 

 plantations of Suzannah, Xuan-loc and several others in the 

 province of Bienhoa are located 45 or 50 miles from Saigon, 

 out near the railway running to Nhatrang, while the Xatrach 

 Locninh and other important plantations of the province of 

 Thudaumot are 65 to 75 miles from Saigon by automobile. How- 

 ever, the roads are level and good and the high value of rubber 

 combined with its small bulk makes transportation a question 

 of relatively small importance. The construction of railways 

 and automobile roads through the rubber district offers no seri- 

 ous difficulties, and the development of transportation facilities 

 is sure to keep pace with the settlement of the country. Then, 

 too, Cochin China has a wonderful system of water transporta- 

 tion. None of the rubber plantations are very distant from a 

 stream or canal by which rubber can be cheaply transported by 

 sampan to Saigon. 



Saigon is the most important French seaport outside of France 

 and is accessible to vessels of any draught. It has regular freight 

 connections with the mother-country as well as with Singapore 

 and Hongkong and frequent service to Manila, Bangkok and 

 other neighboring ports. 



PRODUCTION AND EXPORTATION. 

 The production of rubber in the Saigon district, since its begin- 

 ning in 1908, has been about as follows in kilograms per planta- 



*'°"- 1908. 1909. 1910. 1911. 



Belland estates ... /ti'/oj 1,500 3,000 5,000 10.000 



Suoi-giao 1,749 2,573 2,086 3,080 



Xatracb ... ... 120 



Surannah ... ... ... ... 



Others 200 200 300 300 



Totals 3,449 5.773 7,386 13,500 



1912, 1913. 1914. 1915. 



Belland estates.. .*i/c)j 12,000 18,000 26.000 28,000 



Suoi"iao 3 800 3.527 5.319 14,783 



Xatrach 1,870 25.170 77,000 128,616 



Suiannah 4.480 24,129 47,242 95,776 



Others 2,000 14,174 29,439 79,995 



Totals 24,150 85,000 185,000 347,170 



The exportation of rubber from the port of Saigon during the 

 same period, by weight and value, has been as follows : 



United States 

 Kilograms. Currency. 



1912 25.563 »22,201 



1913 85,000 73,823 



1914 175,067 152,046 



1915 357,003 310,057 



United Sufes 

 Kilograms. Currency. 



1908 3,021 $3,797 



1909 5,729 4,976 



1910 6,379 5,540 



1911 13,577 11,792 



These figures represent the customs values, which since 1908 

 amount to 450 francs (nearly $90 United States currency) per 

 100 kilos. At present this is much below the market value. The 

 actual selling price during the year 1915 began with 620 francs 

 January 1, reached 767 francs early in July, which was high-water 

 mark until late in October, when it rose to 1,073, fell again to 911 

 during the latter part of November and finished the year at 1,223. 

 Taking 850 francs as an average price for the year, the amount 

 of money received by the plantation owners for the 1915 product 

 was nearly $600,000 (United States currency). Since January 1. 

 1916, the price has gradually declined to about 1,100 francs per 

 100 kilograms. If this price is maintained the market value of 

 the 1916 product will be about $1,650,000. 



Practically all this rubber has been exported to France. The 

 war at first interfered with this exportation, and during the latter 

 part of 1914 some of the leading producers were seeking a mar- 

 ket elsewhere ; but early in 1915 the French Government forbade 

 the exportation of this product to any country except France, 

 and Saigon rubber soon began to find a good market in the 

 mother-country. The price soon began to rise, as shown in the 

 preceding paragraph. 



PRESENT STATUS OF PLANTATION RUBBER. 



Enough has already been said to show that the production of 

 plantation rubber is no longer an experiment in Cochin China. A 

 few figures will show its present status and future prospects. 



Status of the rubber plantations January 1, 1916. 

 PROVINCE OF BARIA. 



Plantation. 

 Societe des Plantations Director. 



de Courtenay M. Sipiere 4,070 



Long-hiep ) 



Long-xuyen J Bonnefoy Freres.. 1,100 



0'hf''s 5,019 



1,000 

 200 

 310 



Totals 10,189 1,510 



PROVINCE OF BIENHOA. 



Hectares Hec- Number 



in Plan- tares of Number 



tation. Planted. Trees. Tapped. 



•"""" ■ """ 



150,151 

 70,000 

 97,518 



4,000 



317,669 4,000 



Ste. .-^gricole de Suzan 



_ nah ,■ M. Girard 3,400 



3te._ des plantations 

 d'Heveas de Xuan-loc.M. Luya ... 2 363 



Ste. des P. d'Anloc.M. Girard '. 3!300 



Ste. de P. de Caout- 

 chouc de Cochinchine.M. Ferandy ... 2 472 



Ste. Agricole de Thanh- 



^ tuy-ha M. Desbordes 3,046 



Ste. des P. de Tan-loc.M. de la Souchere. 1.000 



Others J3713 



872 300,000 100,000 



738 

 798 



208.000 

 200,000 



730 187,500 



500 



360 



1.577 



115.000 

 110,000 

 426,000 







24,000 



Totals 29,294 



CM „ J „ FROVINCE OF GIADINH. 

 Ste. Nouvelle des P. d 



Heveas de Tanthanh- 



dong M. Guery 60O 



Ass n Agricole de Tan- 



,,ninh D. Jessula .. 



Vinh-cu M. Guyonnet 



Vinh-phuoc M. F. Filhol. 



Belland plantations ...M. Chesnay 



5,575 1,546,500 134,000 



550 220,000 50,000 



400 

 400 

 412 

 80 



OthtTS 2,349 



400 

 400 

 365 

 80 

 ,610 



120,000 

 120,000 

 102.000 

 25.000 

 684,648 









 15,000 

 13,300 







To'a'^ 4,241 3,405 1,271,648 78,300 



c J TT .. .,. PROVINCE OF TAYNINH. 



Ste. des Heveas de Tay- 



_ ninh D. Jessula 2,160 



Others 1,584 



1.277 

 225 



403.000 

 62,000 



15,000 

 



Totals 3_744 



1.502 465,000 15,000 



J ^ . „ .PROVINCE OF THUDAUMOT. 

 Ste. des C. de I'lndo- 



chine (Locninh) M. Ectors 10,300 



Ste. de P. d'Heveas de 



Xatrach M. lacque 1,100 



Plantations Hallet: 



Xa-cam M. HafTner 1,000 



Anioc M. Haffner 1,000 



Others 4,500 



Totals 17,900 



ISLAND OF PHU-QUOC. 



4,541 1,320,463 168,700 



Societe d'ExpIoitation 



de Phu-Quoc AT. Lagrand ...... 2,684 250 



PROTECTORATE OF CAMBODIA. 

 Plantation de Kcp- 



plage M. Diipuy 32 18 



100,000 1,200 



6.400 



