208 



had enough evidence laid before him that the art of making saleable 

 rubber by tapping into tins and preparing the resulting latex in a 

 clean and pure form of Para rubber had been invented in the Singa- 

 pore Gardens some years before Ceylon had got beyond the mud and 

 coconut-shell stage and that the discovery by Mr, Parkin in 1899 of 

 the method of making clean rubber was anticipated by nearly ten 

 years, and was perfectly well-known as was wound-response, to 

 hundreds of people in the Straits Settlements and other parts of the 

 East long before Mr. Willis or Mr. Parkin ever came to the East at 

 all. 



As previously remarked history, if worth writing at all, is worth 

 writing accurately and completely, and the stories of the origin of 

 the industry as given by Messrs. Willis and Parkin are inaccurate 

 and misleading. 



While on the subject of the history of the rise of the rubber 

 industry in the East, it may be as well to print here some letters 

 dealing with the subject in its very early inception, as we think they 

 will be found of considerable interest. 



Royal Gardens, Kew, 



17th April, 1878. 



Sir, 



I am desired by Sir Joseph Hooker to acknowledge the receipt 

 of your letter of the 6th April, transmitting an extract from a letter 

 from the Government of India, and requesting the transmission to 

 Ceylon of certain stocks of Hevea and Castilloas. 



In replying to this letter. Sir Joseph Hooker thinks it will be 

 convenient that I should review the whole operations of this establish- 

 ment in effecting the introduction of India-rubber plants into India. 



I. Hevea brasiliensis — Para Rubber. On 4th June 1873, we 

 received from Mr. Markham some hundreds of seeds obtained from 

 Mr. Jas Collins. Of these seeds less than a dozen germinated and 

 six (6) of the plants so obtained were taken out by Dr. King, Superin- 

 tendent of the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, in the same year to India. 

 The climate of Calcutta did not prove very favourable to the Heveas 

 which require the conditions of grov/th met with in hot and moist 

 tropical forests. It was, therefore, decided in consultation with Mr. 

 Markham that in the event of more Heveas being raised and sent 

 out from Kew, they should be received at the Botanic Gardens in 

 Ceylon, which should then be regarded as the depot for supplying 

 young plants to such parts of India as were found to be suitable for 

 its growth. 



On June 14th 1 876, we received from Mr. Wickham about 70,000 

 { seventy thousand ) seeds, of which about 4 per cent, germinated. 



