PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF RUBBER. 



plants are ten years old, and experiments have shown that the 

 trees and vines are still too young to bleed. The possibilities of 

 extending the plantations are illimitable, and planting continues 

 each year in accordance with laws regulating this industry. In 

 this district, at any rate, there is not likely to be any great 

 fall in production for some time to come." 



The reports of rubber from the Congo State only decreased 

 from 6,470 tons in 1903 to 6,309 tons in 1906. Those from 

 Loanda fell from 950 tons in 1904 to 900 tons in 1907, while 

 those from Benguela and Mossamedes rose during the same 

 period from 1,600 to 1,700 tons. 



The French colonies in West Africa increased their exports 

 of rubber from 1,172 tons in 1895 to 3,918 tons in 1904, and the 

 German colony of Togoland raised hers from 63.7 tons in 1901 

 to 1 15.2 tons in 1905. 



That the rubber trade on the east coast of Africa is increas- 

 ing will be evident by the exports from the principal producing 

 countries given below : 



Returns are not available from all the centres of production 

 for a complete review to be furnished, but the preceding statistics 

 sufficiently indicate that there is not likely to be any serious fall 

 in the output of wild rubber in the near future. African sources 

 of supply will certainly show signs of exhaustion before those in 

 tropical America, as they principally consist of widely scattered 

 vines and herbaceous plants, the extraction of rubber from which 

 is exceedingly difficult to supervise and control. 



To-day rubber is, however, being collected by far more 

 scientific methods than those originally in vogue, and Admini- 



