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Within a week or two a consignment of over 1,000 lbs. 

 weight of this rubber is exported, and this will represent the first 

 large quantity of the material which has been put upon the 

 English market, and will be a fair test of the way in w hich such 

 rubber bears packing and tropical transport. Samples of this 

 shipment will be distributed for inspection and criticism, and any 

 suggestions as to improvements or alterations in the manner 

 of packing for transport will be welcomed. 



It may be pointed out that this shipment is not altogether 

 an experimental one, but rather the first of many. This estate 

 alone is now capable of supplying large monthly amounts of 

 rubber of regular and uniform quality, and what is now an 

 accomplished fact on one estate will soon be the condition on 

 many others. 



With regard to letters published in the " India-rubber Journal" 

 of March 13th, in criticism of the method of preparing washed 

 rubber on the plantations themselves, they raise two points for 

 consideration, the one is that plantation-washed rubber ma)- be 

 adulterated with an inferior rubber, and the second that the 

 rubber may not be sufficiently clean — either through imperfect 

 washing in the first instance or through careless handling and 

 packing subsequently. 



The fear of adulteration is quite natural, but in reality will 

 not be justified when dealing with rubber from large estates 

 under European management. The incentive to adulteration is 

 in the East, with present conditions of the rubber market, not 

 felt at all. All rubber is commanding good prices, and it may be 

 quite safely believed that an estate which has gone so far as to 

 establish a washing apparatus in order to turn out pure, clean, 

 dry rubber, will not jeopardise its reputation and good name for 

 the sake of making a temporarv trilling increase to profits which 

 are already large. 



The conditions under which the plantation and preparation 

 are carried on are not, in Europe, sufficiently realised. To obtain 

 on a plantation of Para any quantity of an inferior rubber is 

 difficult, and could scarcely be done without a considerable 

 degree of publicity. It will be easier for the management of the 

 estate to turn out pure and unadulterated rubber than to wilfully 

 adulterate the product. 



The simplest solution of this difficulty of fear of adulteration 

 of washed rubber will be to sample it and have the samples 

 analysed and technically examined, if a simple inspection by 

 expert buyers is not sufficient for accurately estimating the quality. 

 In my own opinion, however, the pale colour, smell, and general 

 appearance of this plantation washed sheet will be quite sufficient 

 to enable an experienced man to say whether the rubber be 

 pure Para or mixed with other rubbers, and that with an 

 accuracy as much as, or more than, in the case of plantation 

 biscuits. 



