3 86 



Singapore \ 4th October, 1903 



The Hon'ble R. \. Bland, 



Acting Resident Councillor^ 

 Malacca. 



Rubber. 



SIR. — We beg to confirm our respects of the 27th ultimo and 

 now advise that we have received advice from our London friends 

 of the sales of the following parcels : — 



lbs. s. d. 



63 No. [ Fine Clean Biscuits at 5/8 p. lb. 



5* No - 2 m n " at 5// » 



6.1 No. 3 Good clean Biscuits A/C Forest Dept. 



slightly darker at 5/6 Malacca. 



2 No. 4 Good Ball 1 inferior 



dark and sandy at 3/9 ,, 



We expeci to receive account sales shortly and will forward them 

 with a remittance indue course. 



We have, etc., 



Paterson Simons & Co. 



RUBBER PROSPECTS 



No Reason Yet To Be Discouraged. 



The recent success of the rubber planters of Ceylon in marketing 

 the product of their cultivated Hevea trees, at the the highest prices 

 on record for crude rubber of any kind, seems to have had a dis- 

 quieting effect upon some of the planters of Castilloa in Mexico. 

 At least they are wondering whether they have not made a mistake 

 in. planting Castilloa, when perhaps by cultivating another species 

 the same investment and the same amount of labour might bring 

 larger returns until the favourable results in the Far East were re- 

 ported, the rubber planters in Mexico were not only satisfied with 

 their progress and prospects, but they were enthusiastic. It remains 

 to be seen whether they should become any less so. 



In the first place, it is not certain that the Hevea species, the 

 rubber of Para, are as well adopted to Mexico as to Ceylon and 

 the Malay States. They may yet prove to be but that is another 

 matter. But Mexico is the home of Castilloa, the source of the 

 first rubber of which any written record exists. And it yields a 

 good rubber, a material for which the industry affords a certain and 

 permanent demand. The product of Castilloa, as now market, is 

 worth less commercially than Hevea rubber. So is silver worth less 

 bv weight than gold, but this fact neither discourages silver mining 

 nor limits the use of the cheaper metal in the arts. The question 

 is not whether the rubber grown in Ceylon will sell for more than 

 the Mexican product, but whether the Mexican plantations now 

 under way will yield fair returns on the capital invested. 



