REVIEW OF THE ORIENTAL SITUATION 299 



Resiliency. There is no doubt whatever that rubber of 

 greater resiliency and better nerve is obtained from the 

 latex of mature trees than from young plantations. It 

 is a question of opinion as to the age at which trees in the 

 Orient may be said to reach maturity under the exist- 

 ing conditions of cultivation ; but on broad lines, based 

 on average density of latex, the period may be placed 

 at from eight to ten years from the date of planting. 

 The advantage enjoyed by the Amazon Valley in this 

 respect, therefore, is only a passing phase which will be 

 rectified automatically in a very few years. After the 

 year 1919 the latex from immature trees in the Orient 

 will be a negligible factor, for it will never exceed 5 per 

 cent, of the total production, and probably fall much 

 below that figure. 



Three causes in the last twelve months have con- 

 tributed to reduce the "all in" costs of rubber. The 

 first was the fall in value of the raw material, leading 

 to the reduction of all ad valorem charges and com- 

 missions; the second was the abolition of the 2\ per 

 cent, and per cent, for draft and allowance to buyers ; 

 and the third was the revision of the dock and ware- 

 house charges in London. The combination of these 

 three factors diminish the costs between shipment and 

 sale by approximately 2 pence per pound. Under present 

 conditions the average cost per pound of rubber during 

 the next quinquennial period should not exceed, for 

 the countries specified, the figures given in the table on 

 p. 300. These average costs compare with 28 pence 

 per pound of rubber for the crop season 1912-13 in 

 the Amazon Valley. 



It is asserted in the Amazon Valley that the 

 superiority of the Brazilian rubber from the upper 



