M w 1. 1915. 1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 





THE RUBBER TRADE IN JAPAN. 

 By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 ■"Till-" Japanese rubber trade has not escaped the effects of the 

 British embargo on the export of rubber from home and 

 ci lonial ports. Ceylon and tin- Straits Settlements have in the 

 pa-t formed the chiej source of the Japanese crude rubber supply, 

 and the continuance of the embargo for a prolonged period 

 would naturally have meant serious loss to the manufacturers 

 oi this country. The matter was taken up l>> the foreign and agri- 

 cultural departments of the Japanese Government and requests 

 made that Great Britain except Japan from the embargo condi- 

 tii us; resulting in an arrangement, effected March 3, by which the 

 embargo has been lifted on rubber exports to Japan, on condition 

 that the government of this country shall control re-exports 

 and also the export of manufactured rubber goods so that they 

 positivel} shall not reacli any enemy country. The ordinance 

 issued bj the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, under 

 dat< of March 3. states that any person desiring to export crude 



rubber or rubber g Is must make application to the Minister 



of Agriculture and Commerce, naming the variety and quantity 

 oi the goods t" he exported, the ports <>f shipment and destina- 

 tion, the name of the consignee anil the trade-mark. Am person 

 exporting goods without official permission is liable to fim and 

 imprisonment. Applications for permit to ship goods to Kritish 

 and Russian ports are especially likely to be granted. 



The export trade of this country has in the past been chiefly 

 with China, where there is a demand for jinrikisha tires and also 

 a -mall hut gradually increasing trade in rubber tires for bicycles. 

 Chinese roads, however, are not especially suited to bicycles, and 

 until these are improved there will probably not he any very 

 large export of this commodity. So keen a competition has de- 

 veloped during the past year in the Japanese tire trade that one 

 of the large companies — the Dunlop Rubber Co. (Far East) 

 Limited — has changed its policy of distribution and is now sack- 

 ing an extension of its trade with China rather than among home 

 consumers. 



Japanese planters now control in Johore and Borneo 46 

 plantations on which rubber is cultivated. These plantations 

 cover an area of 92.871 acres, of which 39.045 acres is under cul- 

 tivation, with 31.813 acres planted. Some of this area was opened 

 i early as 1906. hut the greater portion of it. or about 27.750 

 acres, came under cultivation during 1910 and 1911. The num- 

 bei of lahorers employed on these various estates ranges from 

 a very few on the smaller plantations up to 1,053— this latter 

 number heing employed on the Batu Pahat Ruhber Estate at 

 Suligarten. 



The Philippine Islands are represented at the Panama-Pacific 

 Exposition, at San Francisco, by an exhibit in blocks 19 and 20 

 in the Palace of Agriculture, which comprise about 9.500 square 

 feet. Specimens of ruhber grown in the islands are included in 

 this display. 



Automobiles to the number of 621. and valued at $886,416, were 

 imported into the Philippine Islands in 1913. of which the United 

 States supplied about 80 per cent., both in number and value. 

 Tire imports for thai year reached a total value of $180,S23. of 

 which a little over 60 per cent, were made in the United States 

 and about 35 per cent, were from France. 



In its issue of March 16. "Wileman's Review," published at 

 Rio de Janeiro, has the following paragraph hearing on the 

 preferential import tariff on rubber goods manufactured from 

 Brazilian hard tine : 



"There should he no difficulty, the Treasury thinks, in deter- 

 mining by physical tests such as tensibility whether foreign ruh- 

 ber manufactures contain .inly hard tine or other rubbers. Bra- 

 zilian laboratories are quite up to the mark, and though not a 

 single apparatus for tensile testing is to he found in the country 



are quite capable of getting over a simple difficulty like that bj 

 simple intuition. The real test, we imagine, will he the tensi- 

 liilin ivn of rubber, hat of the fiscal consciences, proverbially 

 elastic." 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM BOLIVIA. 



Rubber to the amount of 5,143.214 kilos ill, 335. '44 pounds) 



and valued at 14,651,647 bolivianos ( $5,699,4'* 1 » was exported 

 from Bolivia in 1913, distributed largely as follows; 



To. Quantity. Value. 



Belgium pounds 970,489 $510,810 



France 2,265.51 1 1.034.339 



Germany 1,941,836 1,013,263 



Great Britain 5,714,818 2,900,180 



United States 385.920 209,873 



RELATIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT GRADES OF PLANTATION RUBBER. 



Opinions differ as to the relative value of the several typi 

 plantation rubber. However, during 1 ■ • 1 -4 ribbed smoked 

 always brought better prices than other grades of plantation 



rubber and, although it i- probable that this rubber is onlj 



superficially smoked, the smoke must as a rule improvi thi 

 quality of the rubber. Otherwise the prices paid for ribbed 

 smoked rubber would have to he considered as artificial. 



The smoking process , s expensive and attended with consider- 

 able lire risk, and planters would he glad to avoid it were they 

 sure that in doing so they would not lower the quality ami con- 

 sequently the price of their rubber. 



A NEW FUNGOID DISEASE AFIECTING PLANTATION RUBBER. 



The Experiment Station at Peradeniya. Kandy, is now study- 

 ing another fungoid disease which attacks Hevea Brasiliensis 

 as well as a number of other plantation plants. This do 

 appears to have been imported into the island with different 

 exotic plants and the first case of its attacking Hevea was re- 

 ported in 1S07. when it killed three large trees about 25 years 

 old. one 12 years old and several younger plants of this spei i 

 This disease also affects Hevea in the Federated Malay States, 

 hut in no case, either there or in Ceylon, has it caused any wide- 

 spread damage. It attacks the leaves and finall) destroys the 

 tree. 



TRADING DIRECT WITH BATAVIA. 



The Batavia Chamber of Commerce and Industry would like 

 very much to establish direct communication with the United 

 States. In a communication recently sent out from that body it 

 says that "direct commercial and shipping relations between the 

 I nited States and Dutch F.ast India are under the present cir- 

 cumstances and for the future most desirable. The trade in 

 eral articles which was formerly transacted through the inter- 

 mediary of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, such as rubber, cocoa 

 ami hides, j. now impossible, owing to the difficulty of shipping 

 such goods to Holland." 



The communication goes on to state that the Dutch East Indian 

 colonies would profit by the direct import of flour and machinery 

 and other commodities exported in large quantities from the 

 United "Mates, and it concludes with this paragraph: 



"We are convinced that a direct steamship line between Batavia 

 ami Mew York will doubtless be a great benefit to the commercial 

 relations between the two countries." 



from Java and Madura exports of crude rubber, in 1914. 

 aggregated 581,073 pounds against 543.337 pounds in 1913; show- 

 ing an increase of 37,742 pounds. For both years CastiHoa fur- 

 nished the most important figures, Ceara ranking second, and 

 Hevea third, while Fiats furnished 13.200 pounds in 1913 and 

 8.800 pounds in 1914. 



