402 



Market Prices. 



The market price of rubber during 1908 showed an 

 extraordinary variation, dropping in the beginning of the 

 year to the lowest price previously paid for good plantation 

 Para — viz., 35. per lb. From that point the price steadily 

 recovered, until before the end of the year it had reached 

 5.v. 9d. per lb., an increase of almost 100 per cent, in nine 

 months. This recovery showed that the drop in the price 

 of rubber, as was stated in my last year's report, was not 

 due to any alteration in the ordinary "supply and de- 

 mand, ' ' but was an effect of the financial depression which 

 existed at that time, chiefly in America, and which lead to a 

 cessation of purchases by manufacturers of rubber in that 

 country. 



The average price per lb. of rubber sold from the 

 Malay Peninsula during 1908 was about 4s. 3d., while the 

 cost of production was between Is. and Is. 6r/., so that the 

 industry in passing through the worst year it has experienc- 

 ed, was at the same time exceedingly fortunate in a very 

 large margin of profit. 



Rubber Tapping. 



The Rubber Curing house was completed during the 

 year, and machinery for curing rubber, consisting of an oil 

 engine, a roller and a hydraulic press, have been obtained. 



There are 900 trees of over nine years old, on which a 

 series of experiments will be made and all data recorded. 

 Many problems of great economic importance await solu- 

 tion. The climate of Malaya differs so greatly from that 

 of Ceylon and other rubber growing countries that the 

 results of experiments carried on there cannot with safety 

 be used as giving reliable information for treatment of trees 

 in this country. 



The whole question of tapping requires careful in- 

 vestigation. The results given by thin paring of cuts at an 

 angle to the axis of the tree are so good that planters are 

 apt to consider the matter solved, but it is not improbable 

 that punctures instead of cuts may yet be found to give as 

 good or better yields and involve less skilled labour. All 

 the " prickers' ' which have up to the present been exploited 

 are instruments not for making a puncture but a short deep 

 cut, and consequently damaging relatively more cells of 

 the tree than a cylindrical or sharply conical pricker. 

 There is a large field for ingenuity and careful experiment ; 

 and the next few years should produce an instrument which 

 will be a marked improvement on the jjresent weapons. 



