119 



The officer appointed as Conservator of Forests was Mr. 

 A. M. Burn-Murdoch, and his important paper in Vol. xxxi., 

 p. 309 of the "Indian Forester" 190"), "Some facts about gutta 

 percha " gives a full and valuable account of what has been done 

 to iollow out Mr. Hill's recommendations. It is impossible to do 

 better than to quote the following extracts from Mr. Burn- 

 Murdoch's paper. 



" Palaquium Gutta is found in all four States, the best areas 

 lying between two degrees and five degrees north. It must be 

 considered as a dominant species, but exists at present, owing to 

 the unregulated and wholesale fellings by natives some years ago, 

 only in the seedling and small pole stage. 



" It occurs most frequently on the low hills and plains, often on 

 steep hill sides, and up to 2,000 feet above sea-level, and even 

 3,000. It is found well represented in large blocks of forest, 

 varying in size from a few hundred acres to 10,000 or 15,000 acres 

 m extent, while it may be practically absent in other areas for 

 long distances. On close examination a great many of the young 

 plants are found to be stool shoots, but there are many seedlings 

 also, although seed trees are not now to be found. This looks as 

 if the felling of mature trees did not cease until comparatively 

 recently. The 'Taban' tree is a shade bearer of the most 

 pronounced description, and is able to maintain the struggle for 

 existence successfully, if slowly, in these dense evergreen forests. 

 It grows to a considerable size; the largest I have actual 

 knowledge of in this country was in Penang, and measured when 

 blown down 52 feet in height and 42 inches in circumference at 

 14 feet from the ground. I have seen mention of a tree 140 feet 

 high in the Philippines, and there is no doubt that it is an 

 exceedingly slow grower. At present poles 30 to 40 feet high 

 are fairly common in these States, but large trees are rarities." 



" The qualities of gutta percha became known about 1845, and 

 the demand steadily increased from that time, till in the seventies 

 there was a rush for it by the natives of these States, the price 

 rising rapidly till 1902. Between 1895 and 1900 the exports from 

 Singapore rose, from 2,642 tons to 5,831 tons. It may safely be 

 said that from 1890 onwards the natives of these States were 

 doing their best to obtain gutta percha. Their method of extrac- 

 tion consisted in felling every tree they came across and extracting 

 the latex in a wasteful, rough and ready manner, so that by the 

 time the authorities awoke to the fact that Palaquium was being 

 exterminated (about 1898), it was too late to save trees large 

 enough to produce gutta percha. It is difficult to see how this 

 could have been prevented, however, as at the time there was no 

 properly organised Forest Department, and whatever measures 

 might have been adopted it would have been impossible to 

 effectively carry out in these dense, unpopulated, evergreen 

 forests. 



" In Perak the export of gutta percha was prohibited in 1881, 

 but allowed again in 1887, the issue of passes to collect being 

 prohibited in 1900. The first timber rules, published in 1898 by 



various 



protective measures, which were to the effect that no rubber- 

 bearing tree should be felled if of less than eight inches diameter. 



