ing of rubber on the plantations, and which is generally called 

 " washing." I think too much stress is put on the word 

 " washing." We do not treat our rubber with the idea of 

 washing it at all; it is more with the object of producing it in 

 a useful form for handling and putting on the market. I do 

 not think it could be called " washing " in any sense of the 

 word from a manufacturer's point of view, although incident- 

 ally the rubber does receive a certain amount of washing. I 

 should like to say that recently I met a manufacturer who 

 claimed to have had twenty-five years' experience in one of 

 the largest producing factories, and I asked him that question 

 as to the excessive " working " on estates, and 'his reply was, 

 " I cannot conceive how rubber treated by machinery on th'e 

 estate can have the amount of damage done to it which is 

 stated, when I compare that machining with the machining it 

 will get when it goes through our works." 



The question of pale crepe has already been clearly put 

 before you by previous speakers. The palest crepe is not our 

 cheapest way of producing rubber, and we have always had 

 our own opinion with regard to the lower grades, the darker 

 crepes. The latter are cheaper and easier to produce, but, 

 unfortunately, they do not command the same price in the 

 markets. Personally, I do not think that it is possible to 

 standardize our first latex, but my experience is that you can 

 if you like produce pale crepe, of exactly the same kind, from 

 a number of divisions. It has nothing to do with the colour of 

 the water or the amount of water you add to it. 



Perhaps I may bring out one point with regard to bisulphite, 

 because it is mostly used in the Malay States and hardly at all 

 in Ceylon. I understand from Dr. Stevens that so far as the 

 cured article is concerned it is not affected in any way by the 

 use of bisulphite. I wish to bring that point out as of interest 

 from the Malay point of view. 



Sir EDWARD ROSLING : Mr. President and Gentlemen I 

 came here to-day as a planter to listen and not to talk, and I 

 very greatly regret that I arrived too late to hear Mr. Williams, 

 because, after all, the manufacturer is the final arbitrator in 

 the matter of rubber. It does not matter very much to us 

 whether the chemist disagrees with the manufacturer or vice 

 versa. The chemist's duty is to assist us to produce a rubber 

 that meets with the approval of the manufacturer. 



The position with regard to rubber to-day reminds me of our 

 position in regard to tea twenty-five or thirty years ago. When 

 we first started producing Ceylon tea, we were sending in small 

 lots of five and ten chests. The trade said, " We don't want 

 these little lots ; send us three or four thousand chests like we 

 get from China." That difficulty was got over by resorting 



