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MANUFACTURER'S OPINIONS ON SHEET 

 RUBBER PREPARED BY PLANTERS. 



An interesting series of opinions of managers of well-know n 

 rubber firms as to the advisability of planters sending their 

 rubber to market in the form of thoroughly washed and dried 

 sheets is published in the " India-rubber Journal" of March 13, 

 p. 296, by the Editor of the " International Rubber Planters 

 Association." 



Mr. P. M. Matthew, of the Victoria Rubber Company, 

 Limited, writes: " I have before me at the present time a sample 

 of Plantation rubber of which some 60 tons have passed through 

 the Liverpool market during the past year. The last of this 

 was sold at about 6s. 2d. per lb., which is probably a record price 

 for raw rubber. The best of this rubber has been imported in 

 sheets averaging about j^-inch in thickness, and this, I consider, 

 is the best possible form in which it can be imported. So far as 

 I am aware, there is no reason why the latex should not be 

 coagulated in this form in troughs or vessels of convenient shape 

 and size, and such a plant could be installed at a comparatively 

 trifling cost. The subsequent drying of the rubber is a simple 

 matter, and can be, of course, carried out in various ways as may 

 be most convenient. As regards the suggestion that the rubber 

 could be more conveniently prepared and exported in washed 

 sheets, that is no doubt the case, and, from the manufacturer's 

 point of view, it could not be in any more suitable form. The 

 present conditions of the rubber market, however, render it 

 necessary that the greater part of the rubber imported should 

 pass through the hands of dealers and brokers, and, that being so, 

 no manufacturer would buy the rubber in the form of washed 

 sheets, for the simple reason that it would be impossible for him 

 to tell whether it was adulterated by admixture of inferior rubber 

 or not. From the point of view of the planters I consider it of 

 the first importance that the rubber could be easily identified, 

 which would not be the case were it shipped in the ordinary form 

 of washed rubber. It is not too much to say that such treatment 

 would probably reduce the present market value by at least 25 

 per cent. I do not think it would be practicable to mark the 

 product of the various plantations as has been suggested." 



Chas. Macintosh & Co., Limited, say: " There is no doubt 

 that it would be greatly to the advantage of the India-rubber 

 manufacturer if he could buy his raw rubber clean and dry. 

 Under the very best modern system of collection and preparation, 

 rubber comes to market cleaner and dryer than has ever been 

 known before, but still the manufacturer has to put it through 

 his washing rollers and stoves to eliminate any foreign matter 

 that may have collected on the surface of the cakes or biscuits, 

 even if there is none inside the rubber itself. The important 

 matter for the planter to consider is, how can he collect and 



