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crépe. If it was a question of physical characteristics there 
might be something in it—that the thinness of the crepe, or the 
working of the crépe, might have brought about some differ- 
ence in its physical characteristics which would prevent the 
vulcanization at the same rate. But, as I understand from his 
experiments, he abandoned these pale crépes some time ago in 
favour of the unsmoked sheet, simply because of these varia- 
tions in the length of time of the cure. One would like to 
know how far those differences were really due to the character 
of the crépe, or whether they were due to some particular 
characteristics of the particular experiments he made at that 
time with the crépe. I do not think they were due to the crépe 
itself as far as I can gather. 
Well, Sir, there is one other point which I think is rather 
important in connection with the problem, and that is, that we 
should agree to sell on some definite vulcanization test if it 
can be arranged; and I should welcome any scheme which 
would ensure this happy result, because, as we have heard over 
and over again, and we have heard it again to-day, there cannot 
be any difference between the old form of wild rubber when 
properly produced and the plantation rubber when properly 
produced. With regard to the washing, if the planters have 
taken the trouble to wash the rubber—and we certainly all do 
wash it now—before it comes to the market, surely that product 
in itself must be better than an unwashed wild variety, because 
the impurities have been washed away by the planter, and 
therefore that product in itself should be worth more than an 
unwashed sample. 
Mr. P. J. Burcess: Mr. President and Gentlemen—I am 
very much interested in this question of the variability of 
rubber, and I think we have got to clear up what we mean by 
variability. At present there is much confusion, and I think 
we ought to differentiate variability into two kinds—the 
apparent variability and the real variability. We are rather in 
the position of egg merchants at present; we are putting a lot 
of eggs on the market, and we are grading them according to 
their colour, the kind of hen that produced them, and the dirt 
there may happen to be upon the egg-shell. But we are not 
grading them according to the quality of the contents. The 
only result, of course, is that they are sold and bought simply 
as a job lot; they may be good inside, and they may be bad 
inside; that remains to be tested when they are cooked. Now 
the position is exactly the same with rubber. We are having 
our rubber put upon the market graded according to its colour, 
the tree that produces it and its apparent quality, but not 
according to its real quality, which can only be determined 
when the rubber has been tested and put through the same 
