crepe. If it was a question of physical characteristics there 

 might be something in it that the thinness of the crepe, or the 

 working of the crepe, might have brought about some differ- 

 ence in its physical characteristics which would prevent the 

 vulcanization at the same rate. But, as I understand from his 

 experiments, he abandoned these pale crepes some time ago in 

 favour of the unsmoked sheet, simply because of these varia- 

 tions in the length of time of the cure. One would like to 

 know how far those differences were really due to the character 

 of the crepe, or whether they were due to some particular 

 characteristics of the particular experiments he made at that 

 time with the crepe. I do not think they were due to the crepe 

 itself as far as I can gather. 



Well, Sir, there is one other point which I think is rather 

 important in connection with the problem, and that is, that we 

 should agree to sell on some definite vulcanization test if it 

 can be arranged; and I should welcome any scheme which 

 would ensure this happy result, because, as we have heard over 

 and over again, and we have heard it again to-day, there cannot 

 be any difference between the old form of wild rubber when 

 properly produced and the plantation rubber when properly 

 produced. With regard to the washing, if the planters have 

 taken the trouble to wash the rubber and we certainly all do 

 wash it now before it comes to the market, surely that product 

 in itself must be better than an unwashed wild variety, because 

 the impurities have been washed away by the planter, and 

 therefore that product in itself should be worth more than an 

 unwashed sample. 



Mr. P. J. BURGESS: Mr. President and Gentlemen I am 

 very much interested in this question of the variability of 

 rubber, and I think we have got to clear up what we mean by 

 variability. At present there is much confusion, and I think 

 we ought to differentiate variability into two kinds the 

 apparent variability and the real variability. We are rather in 

 the position of egg merchants at present; we are putting a lot 

 of eggs on the market, and we are grading them according to 

 their colour, the kind of hen that produced them, and the dirt 

 there may happen to be upon the egg-shell. But we are not 

 grading them according to the quality of the contents. The 

 only result, of course, is that they are sold and bought simply 

 as a job lot; they may be good inside, and they may be bad 

 inside; that remains to be tested when they are cooked. Now 

 the position is exactly the same with rubber. We are having 

 our rubber put upon the market graded according to its colour, 

 the tree that produces it and its apparent quality, but not 

 according to its real quality, which can only be determined 

 when the rubber has been tested and put through the same 



