October 1, 1918.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



such crisis would offer to powerful cliques (probably 'alien') to 

 buy up a coiurolling interest." 



Since no visible move has been made by the authorities to col- 

 lect such figures, the writer has compiled from all the available 

 hand-books from the various rubber-producing centers the fol- 

 lowing tables showing the location and domicile of all the known 

 rubber plantations : 



DOMICILED IN UNITED KINGDOM. 



Location. Acres. 



Federated Malay Slates 586.883 



Straits Settlements 109,500 



Ceylon 179,695 



South India 41.820 



British Borneo 29.880 



British Burma 24,620 



South Sea Islands 5.000 



Sumatra 98,000 



Java 108,830 



Dutch Borneo 5,100 



1,189,328 

 DOMICILED IN STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 



Location. Acres. 



Federated Malay States 20,270 



Straits Settlements 40,000 



Burma 1,770 



Sumatra 6 055 



Straits Settlements (private owners) 10,000 



Federated Malay States (private owners) 20,000 



98,095 

 DOMICILED IN FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 

 Location. Acres. 



Federated Malav States 13,348 



Federated Malay States (private owners) 105.000 



118,348 

 DOMICILED IN CEYLON. 



Cey1,.n 40,000 



Ceylon (private) 10,000 



Federated Malay States 7,000 



57.000 

 DOMICILED IN SHANGHAI (BRITISH ). 



Feder.nted Malay States 30,000 



DOMICILED IN HOLLAND AND NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. 



Location. Acres. 



Federated Malav States 5,000 



Sumatra 120,000 



Java 100,000 



Sumatra (private) 10,000 



Java (private) 20,000 



Dutch Borneo 5,000 



260,000 

 DOMICILED IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM. 



Location. Acres. 



Federated Malav States 20,000 



Suma.ra 60.000 



Java 10.000 



Cochin China 10,000 



100,000 

 DOMICILED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

 Location. Acres. 



Sumatra 55.000 



DOMICILED IN GERMANY. 

 Location. Acres. 



Sumatra 3,400 



Total planted area 1,911,171 



According to domicile, therefore, the percentage controlled by 

 the different nationalities may be summed up as follows : 



Acres. Per Cent. 



British Domicile 1,492,771 or 79 



Dutch Domicile 260,000 or 13'^ 



French and Belgian Domicile 100,000 or 5'/i 



United States of America Domicile 55,000 or 2K- 



German Domicile 3,400 or 'i 



Totals 1,911,171 100 



Bat if the place where planted is considered, the control is 

 rested as follows : 



BRITISH. 



Federated Malay States and Johore 807.491 



Straits Settlements 159,500 



Ceylon 229,695 



South India 41,820 



Brltiih Borneo 29,880 



British Burma 26.390 



South Sea Islands 5,000 



1,299,786 

 (or 67 per cent) 

 DUTCH AND OTHERS. 

 Location. Acres. 



Sumatra 352,455 



Java 238,830 



Dutch Borneo 10,100 



Cochin China 10,000 



611,385 

 (or 33 per cent) 



When domicile and location are combined, the result is : 



Location. Acres. 



British Empire 1,517,771 or say 80 per cent 



Dutch and others 393,400 or say 20 per cent 



1,911,171 



Calculating that this area will yield an annual crop of 380,(X)0 

 tons of rubber about 1920, the distribution will be as follows: 



BASED ON DOMICILE. 



Location. Tons 



British Empire 281,000 



Dutch Empire 75,000 



France and Belgium 15,000 



United States of America 8,000 



Cermany 1.000 



380,000 

 BASED ON ESTATE LOCATION. 



British Empire 255,00(i 



Dutch East Indies, etc 125,00(i 



380,000 

 BASED ON DOMICILE AND ANY LOCATION COMBINED. 

 Location. Tons. 



British 290,000 



Dutch and others 90,000 



380,000 

 Unless some control is exercised, it is pointed ou that enemy 

 and neutral countries, will be able to obtain about IS per cent of 

 the estimated crop for 1920, if peace has ensued by that time, at 

 the same price per pound as the United Kingdom and the Allies. 

 Furthermore, says the writer, if conditions permit plantation 

 companies and the powerful American and British rubber goods 

 manufacturers to plant ad libitum, the planted area ten years 

 hence may easily be 4,200.000 acres, which at 375 pounds per acre 

 per annum would give a total crop of 700,000 tons. And in the 

 event that the demand is less by the smallest fraction than the 

 supply, a serious drop in prices is foreseen, accompanied by an 

 equally considerable fall in the market value of an acre of rubber. 

 This circumstance would give a powerful clique backed by the 

 large .American, British, and French manufacturers, the chance 

 to buy up control of the great bulk of plantation companies, and 

 10 regulate pi ice-, so that members of the trust would he able 

 to undersell all manufacturers outside the clique. 



ADVOCATE MINIMUM RUBBER PRICES. 

 The rubber planters of the Dutch East Indies have just started 

 a campaign to secure the fixing of minimum prices for rubber 

 and the licensing of its export. They also seek official assist- 

 ance in an attempt to secure the cooperation of the planters in 

 Ceylon and the Malay States. But while these efforts are be- 

 ing made in Java, the Selangor branch of the Federated Malay 

 States Chamber of Commerce is launching a movement for the 

 total exclusion from the Singapore market of rubber produced 

 in the Dutch East Indies, during the war, or, if prohibition is 

 impossible, for a special import tax of five per cent. It seems 

 to be felt that the .American Government should do nothing to 

 assist the import of Dutch rubber to the detriment of Allied 

 producers. The Planters' Association of Malaya has asked the 

 British Government to induce other rubber-producing countries 

 to limit their output, and it is pointed out that the British War 

 Cabinet has adopted the principle of preferential trade within 

 the Empire. 



