162 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1, 1918. 



and estates that are in need of urgent financial aid have every 

 right to expect and claim government aid and help in the same 

 way as it has been given to the coffee planters by means of 

 Taccavi loans. — (Report of the American Consul, Madras, India.) 



BRITISH NORTH BORNEO RUBBER. 



Despite war conditions the rubber trade is reported to have 

 enjoyed undiminished prosperity in 1917. During that year the 

 exports amounted to 5,470,906 pounds, valued at $5,439,123 Straits 

 dollars (Straits dollar, 56.7 cents. United States currency). This 

 is an increase of 26 per cent over the total for 1916. Tlie growth 

 of the rubber industry in this region during the last 25 j'ears is 

 demonstrated by the fact that in 1892 the total exports of rub- 

 ber amounted to $59,253, and consisted entirely of wild sorts. 



Available figures for the first quarter of 1918, however, show 

 a decrease over those for the same period of 1917 — 1,197,310 

 pounds against 1,370,321 pounds. 



VIEWS ON RUBBER CROP RESTRICTION. 

 The uncertainty of being able to ship rubber, added to the 

 limited American imports, is forcing to the front the question of 

 restricting crops. It appears that, before the American action 

 became known or was even dreamed of, many large companies 

 had reduced their output from 20 to 30 per cent. Certain 

 authorities suggest that events in Malaya should be carefully 

 observed, while in the meantime the question of how to conduct 

 eventual restrictions should be considered. The utmost economy 

 in production is recommended. If conditions become worse, it is 

 proposed to request the government to postpone the collection of 

 certain taxes from such companies as are hard hit. 



USE OF HYDROMETERS ON RUBBER ESTATES. 



J. C. Hartiens, chemical engineer of the ex]ierimental station 

 at Malang, Java, publishes in Bulletin No. 23, "Mededeelingen 

 van het Proefstation Malang," an extended report on the use of 

 the latex hydrometers known as the metrolac and the lalexomeler 

 for determining the caoutchouc contents of rubber latex on plan- 

 tations. The author summarized the results of his investigations 

 as follows ; 



The relation between specific- gravity and rubber content of 

 latex is very much influenced by the tapping system and prob- 

 ably by many other factors. Latices showing the same rubber 

 content may vary a great deal in composition of the serum and 

 vice versa. Eaton's table showing the relation between specific 

 gravity and rubber content of the latex cannot be considered re- 

 liable for general use. A limited number of latices will show 

 the relation indicated in the table, but no practical results can 

 be expected from ihe use of hydrometers. This assumption was 

 demonstrated experimentally by the author who remarks in con- 

 clusion that very often no reading with the instruments is obtain- 

 able on account of the thick or viscous nature of the latex, air 

 bubbles, etc., and in many cases only dubious reading is obtained, 

 caused by minute curdling in the latex. If good readings are 

 possible, the corresponding rubber content very often shows great 

 differences from the actual content. 



The error.'! made in trial coagulation are alway- 

 those made in using the instruments, even after correction. In 

 consequence the author does not recommend the use of such 

 instruments as metrolacs and latexometers and states that trial 

 coagulation is Mill the best way to get reliable result^. 



RAILWAY TO DEVELOP PAPUAN INDUSTRIES. 

 The construction of a light railway, 18 miles in length, to con- 

 nect Port Moresby, Papua, with the Laloki River, to serve a 

 copper mining enterprise is being considered. This same Ime, 

 it is claimed, will also be useful to several plantations, includmg 

 rubber estates. The plan had already been decided upon be- 

 fore the war, but was temporarily abandoned owing to the sub- 

 sequent situation in Europe. 



iller than 



HOPEFUL OUTLOOK FOR RUBBER PRODUCERS. 



AV/HILH admitting that the v.-ar has been a serious trial to rub- 

 '''' ber producers, the "Financial Times" emphasizes that it 

 has brought out certain features which promise prosperity in 

 the near future, one of the chief of which is that proof has been 

 afforded that synthetic rubber is not a commercial possibility. 



During four years the pick of German chemists have been 

 working to produce synthetic rubber at no matter what cost. All 

 they have succeeded in doing is to produce small quantities of a 

 substance which, mixed with certain proportions of natural and 

 reclaimed rubber, makes an unsatisfactory substitute. The only 

 real success achieved in this direction, in fact, is a great im- 

 provement in the process of reclaiming and remaking waste 

 rubber, which might be useful in preventing rubber from soing 

 too high, but would have little effect so long as the natural 

 product was available at anything like a reasonable price. 



The war has resulted in the discovery of some new uses for 

 rubber which are likely to prove of considerable importance in 

 the future. Chief among these is the manufacture of rubber 

 composite soles for boots, resorted to at first owing simply to 

 the general shortage of leather. Tliese soles have since fully 

 proved their value, .and are, indeed, now claimed to be the best 

 substitutes for leather soles. 



There will be a big demand for rubber both in Great Britain 

 and in the United States as soon as the war is over, and to a 

 Ic.-scr extent also in France and Italy. To this must be added 

 the amount which will be required to restock Belgium, Germany 

 anil Austria-Hungary, which are practically denuded of rubber, 

 wliilc, owing to the fancy prices which (jermany has for a long 

 time been offering, it may be presuined that there is a great lack 

 of the commodity ip all the neutral countries bordering upon 

 the Central Empires. 



Were all these demands to be met at once there would undoubt- 

 edly be not enough rubber to go around, as stocks are by no 

 means large anywhere. In America supplies were recently cal- 

 culated at about four months' normal consumption and can 

 hardly have been increased, while in this country they are believed 

 to be smaller still. There is probably soine accumulation in the 

 East, where companies have kept their output at the factories 

 rather than accept the very poor prices recently offered . . . 

 but this could not in any caSe be sufficiently large to have any 

 great efi'ect. If the industry were left to itself, therefore, and 

 buyers had to compete against each other, we might easily see 

 rubber for a time forced up to the extravagant level it touched 

 in 1910, or even beyond. This prospect appears, however, to 

 have been already foreseen by the British Government and to be 

 the real reason for the appointment of a controller, whose first 

 action has been to issue a warning that a maximum price may 

 have to be fixed. It seems a little hard that an industry which 

 was left severely alone to cope with the difficulties occasioned by 

 the war should be promptly put under restraint when conditions 

 take a turn in its favor, but a wild scramble for all the available 

 supplies, with Germany — whose need is the greatest — outbidding 

 everyone else, would raise the post-war economic problem too 

 promptly and acutely, and would not be of real benefit in the 

 long run. _ ■ 



The percentage of increase in the area under cultivation reached 

 its highest point in 1911, but it was not until four years later that 

 the expansion in the world's production cuhninated. Since 1915 

 the trend of the latter has been downward, and in the next four 

 years the rate of growth will be smaller year by year, the 

 shrinkage being measurable by the drop in the percentage of new 

 acreage, planted. As regards other sources of supply, the output 

 from Brazil has for the last six years remained fairly constant 

 at about 38,000 tons per annum, and there is little reason to ex- 

 pect any increase from this source, while it is possible that there 

 may be a further diminution unless a higher level of prices is 

 established. The same anplies to the output from Africa and 

 other sources of wild rubber, which have also kept fairly steady 

 during the last five years at between 12,000 and 13,000 tons per 

 annum. The plantation industry in the Middle East is therefore 

 likely to remain the sole source from which increased supplies 

 can be obtained, and must tend more and more to dominate the 

 crude rubber market as a whole. 



The prospects for the industry generally appear, therefore, very 

 hopeful for a period of at least ten years. At the end of that 

 time it is possible that the increase of new plantations will have 

 overtaken consumption, but in any such future crisis it will be 

 the latecomers who will have to bear the brunt of the conse- 

 qutiit fall in price, while hardly any limit can be placed on the 

 possible extension of the use of rubber. 



