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to the expedient of mixing the various lots and forming- a 

 blend. Now I throw that out as a suggestion on the question 

 of standardization. If the rubber from twelve different estates 

 were mixed, would you not be likely to obtain a more constant 

 product ? That is to say, if the rubber from each estate varies, 

 would you not, if you vulcanized them all together in certain 

 definite proportions, get a blend which would remain constant ? 



As regards crepe versus sheet, the cheapest form in which 

 a planter can produce rubber is in unsmoked sheets. Smoked 

 sheets cost a trifle more. The origin of creping was to assist 

 drying, as before artificial drying was introduced it was more 

 difficult to dry sheet rubber. One well-known manufacturer 

 asked me some months ago, "-Why don't you produce 

 biscuit?" I said, "Sheet and biscuit are exactly the same; 

 but we can produce sheet cheaper, and incidentally get a rather 

 better price." But I happened to discover that that manu- 

 facturer wanted biscuit because he could get it at a penny a 

 pound cheaper. That was very natural from his point of view, 

 and it was equally natural from our point of view that we had 

 stopped making biscuit. The great trouble of the planter, as 

 has been already pointed out, is to learn exactly what the 

 manufacturers want. One manufacturer says he wants crepe, 

 another says he wants sheet. But all are agreed on the one 

 point, and that is the question of variation, and it is for that 

 reason that as a possible solution I throw out the suggestion 

 that by blending the produce of different estates we might 

 arrive at a common rubber; that is to say, a rubber of constant 

 quality. 



M. EMIL BAILLAUD (Marseilles) : Mr. President and Gentle- 

 men I am sorry that some of our French rubber manu- 

 facturers are not present at this meeting, because there is a 

 general feeling in France among our big manufacturers that 

 it is not possible to utilize plantation rubber for certain things 

 for instance, the inner tubes of tyres. There must be some 

 reason for this view, and perhaps it is. due to the fact that there 

 are different qualities of plantation rubber. If only the best 

 quality were used, perhaps it would give as good results as 

 the wild Para rubber from South America, which at present 

 they say they must have. I am sorry that French manu- 

 facturers are not here to express their views, but I think that 

 when they find they can get good plantation rubber they 

 will use it. 



Mr. F. CROSBIE ROLES : Mr. President and Gentlemen I 

 think that in many of the references to standardization the 

 matter of greatest practical importance to the great majority 

 of estates is liable to be overlooked. Uniformity is the all- 

 important requirement of the day and of the future, and it is 



