726 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Septembek 1. 1919. 



The writer hopes that as the percentage of new acreage for 

 the plantations has fallen off greatly during the war, the increased 

 pri.>portion of rubber production will be such that Brazil can con- 

 tend against it. 



The States of Para and Manaos are practically bankrupt and 

 have applied to the Federal Government for help; it is suggested 

 that that government should assume the administration of both. 

 The Amazon rubber industry has seen its worst, but it has laid 

 the foundations of an agricultural industry that may feed it. The 

 demand for rubber may exceed the supply, and the thing to do is 

 to improve the methods employed and the quality, and even per- 

 haps manufacture in situ. 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM PARA. 



THE STATISTICS of the Port of Para Company give the total of 

 rubber exports for 1918 as 29,119 tons (65,226,560 pounds), 

 and the following table summarizes the actual rubber exports 

 for the last four years, together with the regions from which 

 the products came : 



Pounds. 



From: 1915. 1916. 191?! 1918. 



Stales of Pari, 1 



Amazonas and f 30,103,135 27,509,702 26,648,246 18,794,094 



Matto Grosso J 



Acic Federal 21,651,398 19,142,026 23.142,718 18,086,990 



Peru'^'etc } •' ■ 12,729,339 15,309,604 29.970,772 27,181,836 



Totals 64,483,872 61,961,332 79,761,736 64,062,920 



The total amount of rubber received at the port of Para during 

 1918 was 54,716,116 pounds, as follows: 



Pounds. 



.Nt,.tc ol Para 14,310,828 



State ot Amazonas 372,497 



Sutc oi Malto Grosso 1,172,765 



Acre Fe.leral H'iH'^"^ 



Bolivia 6,683,620 



Peiu 2,334.915 



UntlassiBed 14,347,685 



Totals 54,716,116 



The net weight of rubber exported was 47,643,086 pounds, of 

 which there were shipped to: 



Pounds. Per Cent. 



Liverpool 10,622,878 22.2 



Havre 1,916,539 4.2 



\ew Vork 34,342,832 72.1 



Sou;h America, etc 181,588 .3 



Barbados 579,249 1.2 



47,643,086 100.0 



The quantities of rubber thus shipped were ; 



Pounds. 



Fine 17,559,821 



Medium 1,236,123 



Sernamby 6,341,284 



rauciio 7,776,267 



Other grades 14,729,591 



47,643,086 

 The quantity of Bolivian rubber actually sent to Para during 

 the year is registered at 6,672,818 pounds (gross weight), while 

 2,334,915 pounds came from Peru. 



THE RUBBER TREE ASSOCIATION OF AMAZONAS. 



The Club da Seringueira, the rubber-tree club, a section of 

 the Agricultural Association of Amazonas, at Manaos, Brazil, 

 was incorporated April 24, 1916, in accordance with the laws of 

 Brazil, and designated "an institution of public utility" by the 

 Brazilian Government, December 27, 1917. It took over at 

 once the supervision of the Scringal Miry, an experimental rub- 

 ber estate, which had been started in September, 1916. The club 

 also began operations at the Canipo de Expericncias da Socie- 

 dade Anwconcnse de Agricultura, which had been handed over 

 to the Government three years before when all work was sus- 

 pended ; Dr. Angelino Bevilacqua is director of this and C. J. 

 Carvalhaes. manager of the Seringal. The club receives financial 

 aid from the State of Amazonas and publishes a monthly bulle- 

 tin "A Seringueira," which contains not only news of the doings 



at the stations it supervises, but also interesting rubber informa- 

 tion from all parts of the world. 



The president of the Club is Jose Claudio de Mesquita, with Dr. 

 Osman Pedroso, Dr. Alpedo A. da Malta, Dr. Antonio Crespo 

 de Castro and Dr. Angelino Bevilacqua as directors; the secre- 

 tary is Arthur Ferrcira, who is on the administrative council 

 with Dr. Esmeraldo .\. da Silva Coclho, Dr. Alcides Bahia, Dr. 

 Francisco P. de .\raujo and Raymundo C. Monliero da Costa. 



iE.\DQ 



hERINCL'ElK... 



The office of the club is in the building of the Associafdo Com- 

 mercial (Business .Association), Rua Marechal Deodoro, Manaos. 

 The Club has selected June 24 as "Rubber Day" and celebrates 

 the occasion by public festivities in the Seringal Miry, where 

 experiments in everything that relates to the cultivation and 

 e.xtraction of rubbei are carried on and suggested imprcx enients 

 are tried out. 



TWO NEW OCEAN CABLES PROPOSED. 



An effort is being made by .American firms with iradc inter- 

 ests in the Orient to have a second Pacific cable laid. The 

 present one from San Francisco through Honolulu, Guam and 

 Yokohama to Shanghai has become w^holly inadequate to meet 

 the demands of the increased business during and since the w^ar, 

 and the average time for a message from San Francisco to 

 Yokohama or Shanghai is novir about four days. A committee 

 has been appointed by the National Foreign Trade Council to 

 investigate conditions and urge the present Pacific Cable Com- 

 pany to extend its facilities. Reliable estimates place the cost of 

 another cable in the neighborhood of $8,000,000, and it is. believed 

 that such a cable would soon pay for itself with the increasing 

 trade in the Far East. 



Large business interests in the United States and Scandinavian 

 countries are also projecting a cable between New York and 

 Sweden, probably ending in Gothenburg. The congested condi- 

 tion of the -Atlantic cables, as well as the increased trade with 

 Norway, Finland and Russia, are responsible to a great extent 

 for the project, but a northern route of communication has been 

 needed for some time. 



Reasons given for the reduced output of rubber from 

 Brazil are the low level of rubber prices, the abnormally low 

 prices for caucho and the epidemic of Spanish influenza which 

 impeded work. 



The "Revista da .Associacao Commercial do .Amazonas" con- 

 curs in the opinion of The India Rubber World, quoting as fol- 

 low^s : "Numberless risks might result from any modification of 

 the method of extraction— well-smoked "Para rubber is the best 



in the world." 



