TOO 
lliat  the  time  has  not  yet  arrived  if  it  ever  will  when  foreign  com- 
panies ^^•ill  be  able  to  competi'  with  native  producers,  and  success- 
fully work  Rubber  properties  in  the  great  valley  cf  tlui  Amazon 
and  its  myriad  feeders.  Mr.  WiTT  says  that  he  has  seen  not  a few 
lailures;  the  present  writer,  unfortunately,  has  been  a shareholder 
in  several  of  the  companies  correctlv  alluded  to  as  “ failures  ”bv 
Mr.  Witt. 
With  regard  to  the  Comptoir  Colonial  Fran(;ais,  referred  to  by 
that  gentleman  as  having  lost  about  §2,000,000  in  little  more  than  a 
year’s  trading  in  rubber  on  the  Amazon,  I do  not  tlnnk  the  whole 
of  that  loss  was  incurred  in  Brazil.  The  Comptoir  Colonial  Franyais 
owned  estates  on  the  Congo  in  Central  Africa  in  F'rench  territory, 
and,  I believe,' also  in  the  Congo  Free  State.  Doubtless  some  of 
the  §2,000,000  was  lost  in  Africa,  but  assuming  that  the  company 
only  lost  half  the  amount  ($1,000,000)  on  the  Amazon  during  about 
a year’s  trading,  that  result  is  bad  enough,  and  discouraging  enough, 
in  all  conscience. 
I am  more  or  less  familar  with  the  history  of,  I think,  the  whole 
list  of  foreign  rubber  companies  which  have  attempted  to  work 
rubber  in  Brazil  and  Bolivia,  and  I have  before  me  at  this  moment 
copies  of  many  of  the  documents  which  were  placed  before  the 
Comptoir  Colonial  Fran^'ais  by  the  owners  of  the  estates,  in  working 
which  that  company  has  come  to  grief.  The  vendors  of  the  pro- 
perties to  the  French  company  were  Messrs.  F.  M.  MAROUES&  Co. 
of  Para  and  the  estates  are  situated  on  the  river  Javary,  an  affluent 
of  the  river  Amazon,  and  on  another  smaller  tributary  in  the  same 
district. 
x^ccording  to  the  papers  before  me,  the  properties  on  the  Javary 
and  its  affluents  numbered  twenty-seven,  with  2,500  estradas 
opened  out  and  250,000  trees  (more  or  less)  ready  for  tapping,  the 
approximate  area  of  the  whole  being  given  as  768,1 16,600  square 
meters,  or  about  300  square  miles  This  is  believed  to  be  one  of 
the  finest  estates,  in  the  xAmazon  region.  According  to  the  docu- 
ments. it  comprised  everything  necessary  in  the  shape  of  houses, 
stores,  sheds  (barracoes),  etc.,  for  the  collectors.  There  were  three 
steam  launches  two  of  40  tons  and  one  of  10  tons:  two  iron  lighters, 
and  nine  boats  and  canoes.  AW  these  adjuncts  were  apparently 
taken  over  by  the  French  company.  The  amount  of  rubber  pro- 
duced from  these  estates  is  known  to  have  been  very  large.  I have 
before  me  the  production  for  each  year  from  1891-92  to  1S97-98. 
During  the  worst  year  (1891-92),  the  estates  produced  215,927 
kilos,  and  during  the  best  year  (1892-93),  348,920  kilos,  the  total 
for  the  seven  years  being  2,053,492  kilos,  or  2,053  metric  tons,  an 
average  of  about  293  metric  tons  per  annum,  of  the  annual  value, 
taken  at  the  low  average  figure  of  £300  per  ton,  of  £S'j,goo,  or, 
say,  about  $439,000.  1 know  of  no  reason  why  these  figures 
should  not  be  taken  as  correct. 
I am  able  to  give  a few  extracts  from  a statement  signed  ,by' 
F.  M.  Marques  & Co.,  describing  how  they  became  possessed  of, 
the  properties,  giving  the  reasons  for  se 
profits,  d'hese  extracts,  read  in  the 
mg, 
light  of 
and  estimating 
the  results,  will, 
