I/I 



From the Niger District we get rubber varying from small 

 balls of fine white rubber of excellent quality, known as " White 

 Niger Niggers," down to a soft pasty substance which looks like 

 bad honey and smells abominably. This is known as " Niger Flake," 

 and is worth about is. 2d. per lb. 



These descriptions might be multiplied indefinitely, but sufficient 

 has been said to show in how many various shapes raw rubber 

 arrives in the home market, and what a very wide experience is 

 necessary to successfully judge the relative vakies of the different 

 kinds. 



One point in connexion with the values of the different varieties 

 is, however worth attention — namely, that values do not move to- 

 gether. For instance, the price of hard cure fine Para may be 

 going up when the price of Red Niggers is going down, and vice 

 versa ; each grade may be said to be a market to itself. There 

 is, of course, some sort of relative proportion, but nevertheless 

 each grade practically fluctuates by itself. The market reports of 

 the auctions last Tuesday show that pale crepe was fetching at the 

 auction as much as lOs. 3^^d., while hard cure fine Para was 

 selling at 9s. 9/2d. ; a fortnight before the respective values were 

 9s. 7d. and 8s. lod. per lb. 



SOURCES OP SUPPLY. 



The world's present sources of supply for crude rubber are 



approximately as follows: — 



Tons. 



The River Amazon with its tributaries . . . . 39,000 



Other districts of Brazil .. .. .. '2,800 



The Federated Malay States — Ceylon, Sumatra, &c. 



(plantation rubber) ... . . . . . . 4,600 



The Congo Free State and the French Congo . . 5,600 



Portuguese West Africa . . . . . . 2,900 



The West Coast of Africa, excluding the Congo and 



Portuguese West Africa .. .. ... 9,S00 



Rangoon, Penang, Borneo, &c. (wild ru her) .. 1,200 



East Coast Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, &c. . . 800 



Mexico, the East Indies, and Central America . . 1,500 



67,900 



The figures given above are necessarily for the most part 

 estimated as with the exception of the exports from the Amazon, no 

 exact records are obtainable of the production of the various districts, 

 nor is it possible to obtain a complete record at the different ports 

 of arrival, as statistics of some of the ports can only be obtained in 

 an unclassified form, and from other ports no accurate statistics at all 

 are obtainable. 



PRINCIPAL USES. 



It is only feasible to give a general idea in an article of this kind 

 as to the uses to which the different grades of rubber are put, because 

 as a general rule it might be laid down that rubber which can be used 

 in any high-class work, such as motor tires, elastic thread, surgical 



