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to certain experiments carried out by one of the largest cable 
manufacturers in this country. They heard about the use of 
sodium bisulphite, and I got into communication with them on 
the matter; it was agreed that two cases of rubber should be 
prepared from one of the plantations in the East, one to be 
treated by sodium bisulphite and the other not. These two 
cases were forwarded from the East direct to the Cable 
Company in question, in order for them to make their tests. 
A couple of months having elapsed without my hearing any- 
thing, I wrote to inquire how these experiments had turned 
out. They replied that their first tests showed practically no 
difference in quality between the two, any difference there was 
being slightly in favour of the bisulphite-treated rubber, and 
that, being surprised at this very unexpected result, they had 
repeated their tests very carefully, only to confirm the result 
of the previous tests. It would appear therefore that this 
opinion that sodium bisulphite is harmful to rubber is very 
much open to question. I would point out, firstly, that this 
firm obtained quite different results from those which Mr. 
Williams obtained; and secondly, that Mr. Williams’s method, 
although, of course, no other was open to him, is hardly a fair 
one, and hardly one by which one can arrive at a decision. 
I was very glad to hear that many experts now regard the 
best plantation rubber as equal to fine hard Para. This shows 
a great change in point of view when contrasted with opinions 
previously held on this question. There was a time when 
people would not hear of the possibility of plantation rubber 
being equal to fine hard Para. Then it gradually came to be 
admitted that a few samples of plantation rubber had been 
received which were as good as fine hard Para. Now I think 
it will eventually be admitted that most of the properly pre- 
pared plantation rubber is equal to fine hard Para. Here 
again I would like to protest against the comparison frequently 
drawn between plantation rubber as a whole and fine hard Para 
as one grade, and the best grade, of wild rubber. 
There is only one other point on which I would like, I think, 
to speak, and that is the relative qualities of crépe and sheet 
rubber. I quite agree with the view expressed by Mr. 
Williams, that sheet rubber is better than crépe rubber, and it 
is a view which we have always put forward. In the second 
place I agree with both Mr. Williams and Dr. Schidrowitz that 
much of the inferiority of crépe rubber as compared with sheet 
rubber is due to the machining of the freshly coagulated latex. 
Of course, the manufacturer, on the arrival of his consign- 
ments of rubber, is obliged to put them through the same 
process as the planter has subjected them to, and it is quite 
easy to understand how the planter came to use the same 
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