122 



{Ceylon Times, March 8th, 1905.) 



CEYLON RUBBER PROM THE 

 MANUFACTURER'S POINT OF VIEW. 



Ceylon Inferior to Brazilian Rubber. 



Mr. G. C. S. HODGSON, of Lynnthorpe, Nuwara Eliya, sends us 

 a very interesting report on a small sample of rubber which he sent 

 home to the Director of one of the largest manufacturing rubber 

 companies in Scotland. Mr. HODGSON writes :— " We hear a good 

 deal of brokers' reports, but a report from the actual manufacturer 

 not often. The latter part of the report, I think, most interesting, 

 comparing, as it does Malay, Ceylon, and Brazilian Para. We in 

 Ceylon have, up to the present, considered our rubber the best, but 

 not so the manufacturer. The rubber I sent was from Somerset 

 Estate, Gampola " 



The report is as follows : — 



<( I now return parts of the two samples you recently handed to me. 

 That marked "A" is the best colour as you will see for yourself,and 

 for some manufacturing purposes would be preferable to "B, " but 

 for toughness the latter is the better of the two. 



I regret that our efforts to make a manufactured sample of each 

 with the balance has failed, owing to the quantity being too* small 

 for manipulation, as I was anxious to have showed you them made 

 up in this manner, and also some tensile tests. 



Both, however, are excellent quality, and in that respect similar 

 to what is now being regularly imported. 



The price which these biscuits have recently realized in the mar- 

 ket has varied from 6s. to 6s. 2d. per lb., while to-day's price of 

 Brazil Para is $s. 3^. per lb. 



In arriving at the clean cost to a manufacturer it would be neces- 

 sary to allow, say, 3 per cent, for loss on the Ceylon biscuits, and 18 

 per cent, on the Para. 



Some few months ago, I carried out experiments to determine the 

 respective merits of Malay States and Ceylon biscuits as compared 

 with Brazil Para. Taking strips of each 3 in. long by J in. square, 

 and with a load of 7^ lbs., the following elongations took place : — 

 Malay States, gi in. ; Ceylon, io| in.; Brazilian Para, 13! in.; so 

 that you will see that the Brazilian Para is much superior to either 

 of the other two. There is not much difference between the Ceylon 

 and Malay, though the former shows up better." 



As to differences in tensility, one would much like to know more. 

 The short resume of the manufacturer's letter quoted above is hardly 

 enough. How many samples of Malay and Ceylon rubber did he 

 examine and how were they prepared? The difference in tensility 

 may be due to age of the trees tapped or to age of the rubber. 



