THE MALAY PENINSULA 183 



The third group consists of companies and indi- 

 viduals who have established new plantations on a 

 conservative basis under careful and experienced 

 management, and limited the total expenditure up to the 

 time the trees are yielding to a sum of from 25 to 30 

 per acre. Under these conditions some 70,000 acres 

 are comprised. In this group are to be found many 

 practical planters and successful estate managers who 

 are opening up properties for their own account. 



Briefly summed up, the position is this : If 30 per 

 acre is taken as a fair basis of cost for bringing an 

 estate to the dividend-paying stage and it will be 

 shown presently that this is the case the groups 

 may be classified as follows : 



1. Old-established estates working on original Acres. 



capital 80,000 



2. Companies formed during the " boom" ... 500,000 



3. New plantations limited to a capital expen- 



diture of from 2$ to 30 per acre ... 100,000 



680,000 



The first noticeable effect of over-capitalization is a 

 marked inclination on the part of many estates to extend 

 the area under cultivation on strictly economical prin- 

 ciples, and so reduce the average capital charge per acre. 

 With the price of rubber at 53. per pound or thereabouts, 

 it was easy to find money to effect these extensions, 

 but with the great fall in the value of the raw material, 

 the raising of fresh capital has become more and more 

 difficult. It is only natural to suppose that many of the 

 rubber companies launched during the " boom " will be 

 subject to the usual vicissitudes of any great industry, 



