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plantation rubber is, in my opinion (and when I say my 
opinion I refer to experimental evidence; I do not merely 
express a pious opinion), superior to the best grades of wild 
rubber, as they are used, and can be used, at any rate, by 
practical men. Here again we come to the question of 
‘working,’ and 1 must confess that I prefer to have the 
rubber rolled or machined while still soft and in a ‘‘ cheesy’”’ 
state rather than to have it treated when it is hard and set, 
as in the case of all wild rubber. I think that if manufacturers 
would work towards using plantation rubber without washing, 
if they would make liberal experiments in that direction, they 
would learn a very great deal. I know a number of factories 
in this country and in America which use the best grades of 
plantation rubber without any washing, and I think that 
therein lies a very great secret. If you do not wash plantation 
rubber—and it is not necessary to wash a great deal of it, with 
all respect to certain manufacturers who express a different 
opinion—you will find that the premier grades of plantation 
rubber, if you are in a position to select those which are the 
best, if you are in a position to test their advance or decline, 
you will find that you get a better result than with the average 
fine Para. But if you proceed to re-wash your plantation 
rubber, or if you do not get the best grades, you will find that 
as a whole the average is not so good as that of the finest wild 
rubber. Now, Sir, this is a point which I think should be well 
borne in mind, not only by the manufacturer, but also by the 
planter. I agree with Mr. Brett that it would be a most retro- 
grade step to send home rubber which is wet, and possibly 
dirty, which has got to be washed and dried, and treated as all 
the wild rubbers of the past have been treated. I think there 
is no greater asset in the plantation industry than the fact that 
it can produce clean, dry rubber ready for use by the manu- 
facturer. I will go so far as to say that if the rubber 
manufacturing industry had been founded at the same time as 
the plantation industry, there would have been no such thing 
as a washing machine in the manufacturer's plant. I see no 
reason why every grade of plantation rubber should not be 
sent home in such condition that it can be used directly. Much 
more might be done in the way of efficient straining, machin- 
ing, protecting from dust and dirt than is done. The question 
of packing, again, is a very important one. We have an 
article like tea, which is sold down to 44d. per lb., packed care- 
fully in lead foil; yet we have an article like rubber, which is 
still selling at appreciably over 2s. per lb. for the best grades, 
simply thrown into a box and left to take care of itself, the 
sides of the box consisting of soft wood liberally supplied with 
splinters; and when it arrives at the docks, as likely as not it 
