452 



• 



who framed the estimates and supervised the contractors. 

 Then again in 1905, there were 1500 exhibits and this year 

 they are 1874, which is an increase of 25 per cent. The only 

 sad feature is that in 1905 the public subscriptions were 

 $5,000, and this year they are only $5,600, an increase of 

 nearly 12 per cent., and no doubt if there is a deficit the 

 guarantors will come forward and wipe it out. 



Times of Boom. 



The circumstances that we meet under to-day are very 

 similar to those under which we met four years ago. Then, 

 as now, we were in the middle of a great boom, and the sub- 

 ject of both booms is rubber. At that time, I daresay some 

 of you remember, I uttered a word to warning on the sub- 

 ject of booms, and especially in connection with company 

 promotions. I am astonished, and not a little alarmed, that 

 what I had said then had actually been remembered, because 

 I found that a very witty personal friend of mine was talk- 

 ing of the subject in another place, and there he quoted an 

 extract from my speech. It Avas very gratifying — if some- 

 what alarming — to find that what I said four years ago was 

 remembered by some one. The present time is one of boom, 

 and this boom seems to be very more acute than it was last 

 time, and you find not only the price of rubber extremely 

 high, but the prices of rubber shares very high. It seems to 

 me there is very great danger in that aspect of the industry, 

 if you look at it — as those representing the Government of 

 the country must look at it — from the point of view of the 

 country and the industry. There is danger, with a com- 

 modity which fluctuates so rapidly and to such wide ex- 

 tremes, as well as the shares in companies which produce 

 that commodity — there is serious danger that such an in- 

 dustry will cease to be regarded as a permanent investment, 

 and may become merely a speculative counter. I think 

 there can be nothing more deplorable, in the interest of the 

 country, than that this should come to be so with rubber. If 

 shares in rubber companies become like shares in gold mines, 

 fluctuating, instead of being able to rely upon the permanent 

 investor, who is content with a small return, and who after 

 all ought to be the backbone of your capital supply, and if 

 you have to rely upon this speculator, you will find that you 

 will have to pay a great deal more for your money, and in 

 times of difficulty you will not be able to get it at all. That 

 is a condition of things which those who wish well of the 

 country, and especially of the rubber industry, cannot view 

 without some misgiving. 



