PREFACE. 



During the early part of the present year the author 

 had the pleasure of visiting the islands of Ceylon, Java 

 and Sumatra, and inspecting rubber plantations in the 

 Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States. The 

 object of the tour was to gain a correct idea of the condi- 

 tion of the rubber plantation industry in the areas speci- 

 fied in order that manufacturers, investors and planters 

 throughout the world would be able from the information 

 published in The India-Rueber Journal, to see what 

 was really going on in the Indo-Malayan region. 



The extra copies of the journal in which the original 

 matter first appeared having been exhausted, and requests 

 from correspondents having been made for the informa- 

 tion thus given, it was decided to issue the articles in 

 book form. 



The present publication will, it is hoped, impress upon 

 all who read it the importance of the new Eastern in- 

 dustry, and assist them in their endeavours to utilise the 

 opportunities which that development affords. 



H. W. 



September loth, 1908. 



