December 1, 1918.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



161 



Rubber Planting Notes. 



L 



RUBBER PLANTING IN BRITISH MALAYA. 



LEWTOX-BRAIX, Director of Agriculture, Feder- 

 , ated Malay States, publishes a series of statistical tables 

 dealing with the rubber planting industry in the Malay 

 Peninsula. These statistics show that in spite of the crisis 

 through which the industry is passing (in common with most 

 other industries), there was an addition of 93,950 acres to the 

 planted area during the last year, bringing the total up to 

 1,045,820 acres, of which 621,622 acres are in the Federated 

 Malay States. These figures refer only to estates of 100 acres 

 and over. The statistics for the various portions of British 

 Malaya are as follows: 



Federated Malay Stat 

 Straits Setllementr . . 



Tohure 



Kelantan and Kedah. 

 Trengganu 



Acres 951,870 1,045,820 



The following interesting comparative table is given of estates 

 of over 100 acres in extent : 



Number of estates. 

 Acreage in possessic 

 Planted in rubber. . 

 Proi ■ 



1916. 



1,475 



1,857,157 



951,870 



543,556 



1917. 



1,634 



1,908,993 



,045,820 



632,929 



93,950 



Newly olanted 



In addition to the above, an official approximation is made 

 of the planted acreage of holdings of less than 100 acres each 

 in the Federated Malay States. This is given at 271,862 acres, 

 of which 109,535 acres are producing. 



The number of laborers employed on the larger estates 

 amounted to 352,552, of whom 228,850 were employed in the 

 Federated Malay States. The labor force is made up as follows : 



Ma 



.200,451 

 . 98,393 

 . 29,822 

 , 19,354 



One of the tables gives the rubber crop for 1917 as 82,319 

 tons, as compared with 67,677 tons in 1916 and 1,580 tons in 

 1908. 



RUBBER IN THE FRENCH AFRICAN COLONIES. 



It is estimated that the average annual production of rubber 

 in the French Colonies of Western Africa amounts to 2,000 

 tons, while French Equatorial Africa produces some 3,000 tons. 

 There are considerable stocks now available at all shipping points 

 in France's African Colonies. 



FRENCH COLONIAL RUBBER. 

 The Belgian Minister of Colonies has delegated Dr. G. Van 

 Pelt a government official of the Belgian Congo, to work for a 

 while at the Colonial Institute, Marseilles, France. Dr, Van 

 Pelt's labors in the past have been in researches at the rubber 

 laboratory at Delft, Holland, and as technical director of one 

 of the largest plantations in Sumatra. The Marseilles Colonial 

 Institute proposes to study, with the doctor's help, the measures 

 that can be taken to improve the preparation of African rubber 

 for the market. The "Cashiers Coloniax," of October 18, 1918, 

 issued by the Marseilles Colonial Institute, contains a report by 

 Dr. Van Pelt on the subject, and a report by E. Baillaud, general 

 secretary of the Colonial Institute, on the steps being taken to 

 provide France with the rubber now needed. An account is 

 given of the work being done by the bureau created in French 

 Guiana to prevent frauds in the rubber exported from there. 



Reports by the Planters' Syndicate of Iiido-China and by the 

 Professional Rubber Syndicate, which is assisting the French 

 Ministry of .'\rmaments in the organization of production, are 

 also published in this issue. 



BRAZILIAN RUBBER IN FRANCE. 

 The close harmony in which French rubber manufacturers 

 are working to obtain the quantities of rubber they need for 

 their factories has been well illustrated by their method of 

 handling a recent shipment of eight hundred tons of Para which 

 the Bank of Brazil had shipped to France. The French Pro- 

 fessional Rubber Syndicate, a voluntary organization, controlled 

 the distribution of this rubber, which had been sold by the 

 Brazilian Government to the French Government. For the 

 present, all sales of rubber from Brazil for consumption in 

 France are strictly governmental transactions, and it is thought 

 that this system will continue as long as official regulation of 

 payment and ocean freight rates remain in force. 



AN END TO RUBBER FRAUDS IN FRENCH GUINEA. 

 Formerly, rubber brokers at Liverpool and Bordeaux were 

 continually complaining of the impurities in rubber from French 

 Guinea, such as leaves, bark, twigs, earth, sand and gravel. One 

 particular lot of Landolphia omaricnsis rubber was shown on 

 analvsis, to contain: 



Per 



100.00 

 If this analysis had applied to the whole annual production 

 of the colony of 1,500 tons, there would have been about 375 

 tons of impurities. Government control (before shipment) is 

 now so strict that the analysis of a recently exported lot gave 

 the following results : 



Per cent. 



Mineral matter 0.90 



Humidity and substances soluble in acetone 4.00 



Pure rubber 95.10 



100.00' 



Shipments now average less than five per cent impurities. 



RUBBER-PLANTING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH INDIA. 



At the annual meeting of the United Planters .'Kssociation of 

 Southern India, at Madras, in the latter part of August, 1918, the 

 chairman described conditions in the rubber industry as follows : 



Last year I remarked on the rapid fall in rubber price, which 

 I thought might possibly be due xo increase in home stocks, but 

 hoped for a recovery later in the year. Rubber has been removed 

 from the priority list, we are told, owing to currency difficulties. 

 Freight is not available for shipment to the United Kingdom, 

 thus cutting South Indian rubber out of the home market, and 

 with America further restricting license for import into United 

 States for August and September, prices are still falling, and the 

 latest home price shows about 2s. per pound, practically the low- 

 est on record. There is, at the present moment, large quantities 

 of South Indian rubber awaiting shipment at West Coast ports. 

 Rubber, unlike tea and cofifee, has no local market to fall back on, 

 and so financial aid is necessary and urgent. It is due to British 

 enterprise and capital that Great Britain holds the commanding 

 position she does as regards rubber supplies, an indispensable war 

 requirement to her and her allies. Planters fully recognize that 

 the best must be made of sea tonnage, and that the "best" can 

 mean the carrying of only absolutely necessary war resuire- 

 ments and food commodities. I think those rubber companies 



