.437 



SMOKED RUBBER. 



We have the pleasure of presenting the following report on some 

 Para rubber smoked on spindles in the Botanic Gardens and sent to 

 Messrs. Gow-Wilson and Stanton for examination and report. It will 

 be noticed that the report is not made by a broker, but by a manufac- 

 turer who has treated it from a manufacturer's point of view, the only 

 view that is really valuable. 



For some time we have been working and experimenting with 

 various methods of smoking latex with a view of making Plantation 

 rubber if possible as closely resembling Fine Hard Cure Para of the 

 Amazons as could be. 



Fine Hard is considered the best class of rubber in the w^orld, and 

 very superior to ordinary Plantation rubber in tensile strength and 

 power of recovery, but at the same time as ordinarily sent to market 

 is less clear than Plantation rubber, which was why it often fetched a 

 lower price. 



To make them a rubber which possessed all the best quaUties of 

 Fine Hard cure and the purity of Plantation was the object of this 

 series of experiments. From time to time the reports of the examina- 

 tion of these samples prepared in this way have been published in the 

 Bulletin and in the last annual report, but some of these reports did 

 not satisfy the experimenters. However, it appeared clear we were on 

 the right track and the work was carried on, and the present report 

 now submitted to our readers is a most encouraging one, and shows 

 that we are within a measurable distance of making a very superior 

 •class of Rubber equal to Hard fine Para, but cleaner. 



Further experiments are in progress and we hope soon to be able 

 to show that Plantation rubber by proper treatment of the latex can 

 be made equal if not superior in every respect to the finest rubber 

 produced in the Amazons. 



Further, we do not think that the method employed will prove to 

 be any more expensive than the ordinary making of sheet or crepe 

 ibut on the contrary may possibly be made even cheaper. 



H. N. Ridley, Esq., 



Director, Botanic Gardens, 



Singapore, S. S. 



Dear Sir, 



We are in receipt of your favour of the 30th June, and have just 

 heard from Messrs. Beck and Pollitzer that the 10 cases Rubber refer- 

 red to by you have duly arrived. We hope to forward you full report 

 on the condition and quality of these samples shortly. 



Meanwhile, we have received from the manufacturer who had 

 undertaken the experiment with the previous sample of Smoked Para 

 cured on the 'lines of Hard Fine Para which you had sent us, his 

 report on the subject, and enclose herewith extract from same. 



