n6 THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



basis the rubber industry of the Amazon Valley could 

 make a strong fight against the competition of Eastern 

 plantations, even allowing for a considerable fall in 

 the value of the product below the present level of 

 prices. 



The immediate relief afforded by the suppression of 

 export and import duties is not sufficient to insure the 

 future of the industry ; it is essential that methods of 

 tapping should be introduced increasing the yield per 

 tree without the employment of additional labourers. 

 A Commission should be appointed to investigate 

 thoroughly this vexed question, and also to carry out 

 practical experiments until the desired end be attained. 

 For the purposes of this Commission, the services of 

 scientific experts would be necessary, but this entails 

 no difficulty whatever at the present time ; in Dr. Willis, 

 the Director of the Botanical Gardens at Rio de Janeiro, 

 and formerly in charge of the Peradenyia station in 

 Ceylon, and in Dr. Jacques Huber, the head of the 

 Museo Goeldi at Para, the country has two men of 

 sound knowledge and ripe experience in Brazil and the 

 Orient.* The remaining members of the Commission 

 should be selected from men actually engaged in the 

 business of rubber production in the Amazon Valley, 

 and from that section of the commercial community 

 directly connected with the rubber industry. 



Briefly summed up, these suggestions for meeting the 

 present crisis in a practical way are The Federal 

 Government to arrange with the States interested for 



* Dr. Huber died after the above was written. His successor 

 should be selected with special reference to the knowledge of the 

 rubber industry. 



