THE NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES 257 



London, Liverpool, Antwerp, or Amsterdam, are the 

 same as those ruling from the Malay Peninsula. 

 Freight from Medan and other ports on the east coast 

 is fixed at 65 shillings per 50 cubic feet. Commissions 

 for statistical purposes are calculated on a selling value 

 of 24 pence per pound, and would rise or fall with any 

 fluctuation in prices. The custom in Sumatra is to 

 pack the rubber in wooden cases containing 112 pounds 

 each, and averaging ten boxes to the 50 cubic feet. 

 The charges are 



Pence per Lb. 



1. Freight 0700 



2. Brokerage 0-125 



3. Sale charges, insurance, storage, and sun- 



dries o'375 



4. Merchants' commission 0*250 



Total 1-450 



With the average cost f.o.b. Sumatra of nj pence per 

 pound of rubber, the total cost up to date of sale in 

 London or Liverpool will be nj pence plus 1*45 pence, 

 making 12*95 pence per pound for 1913. As there is 

 every reason to suppose that the future average cost 

 of production f.o.b. Sumatra will not exceed 50 cents, 

 or 10 pence, the total cost with rubber at 24 pence 

 would be 1 1 '45 pence per pound ; or with the selling 

 value at i shilling it would be 11*13 pence per pound, 

 after making due allowance for the decrease in the rate 

 of ad valorem commissions. 



In Sumatra at present it is useless to apply normal 

 yields to the total acreage under cultivation in order 

 to ascertain probable immediate production, for until 

 1909 nearly all the trees were interplanted with Liberian 

 coffee, their development choked, and their needs 

 '7 



