137 



ESTATE MARKS ON PLANTATION RUBBERS. 



An interesting- article on this important subject ap- 

 pears in the current issue of "The India Rubber 

 Journal" The writer points out that the India Rubber 

 Manufacturers Association some time back took up the 

 subject and addressed letters to the Governors of Ceylon 

 and Ala lava pointing out the advisability of planters re- 

 gistering trade marks for various brands of Rubber in 

 order to facilitate identification. It is further stated that 

 it is very gratifying to notice the interest which many 

 manufacturers are now taking in plantation rubber, and 

 especially with reference to the establishment of brands on 

 the produce from the various estates in the Indo-Malayan 

 region. 



A manufacturer writing in the same issue of the i ' India 

 Rubber Journal" states that at the present time the bulk 

 of plantation rubber is bought from sample and as the 

 many different forms appear in many different grades and 

 in various conditions the result is a want of uniformity in 

 the parcels offered. If proper steps, he says, were taken 

 to standardize and brand the various grades of rubber, 

 there seems no adequate reason why in course of time the 

 bulk of the product of each Estate should not be sold under 

 its marks and without reference to samples at all. This is 

 done in the case of wild Para and should be more easily 

 done in the case of Plantation Rubber. 



A number of Estates have already adopted this system 

 of branding their rubber but a great number have not and 

 many brands are said not to be recognized or understood 

 by the majority of manufacturers but as the number of 

 estates increases and the quantity of rubber produced be- 

 comes much larger than at present the wide difference in 

 the qualities of the samples exposed will become more 

 marked and it will become necessary to buy from recog- 

 nized brands and not from sample. As is rightly pointed 

 out the mere branding of cases is not sufficient and is 

 obviously likely to aid fraud. Each sheet, block or biscuit 

 should contain the brand of the estate clearly marked. 



This should be easily done during the process of pre- 

 paration. At the present time when estates are wrest- 

 ling with each other for the top price no man can say which 

 will obtain the best price in the near future and it behoves 

 each one to see that his rubber is plainly branded and that 

 manufacturers and buyers at home are made acquainted 

 with the various brands or marks. Another advantage 



