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providing of machinery to cure it, but they are looking ahead and have 

 already got one Government expert on the spot, and four others, as 

 assistants, will arrive there shortly. The gentlemen will study the local 

 conditions from the scientific point of view and give the planters the 

 benefit of their knowledge. I may mention that I saw no Para rubber 

 over three years in age." 



"They will be tapping in another 12 months then?" 



" It will be a pity if they do. The longer they delay tapping in 

 my opinion the better will be the results. Java labour will be the 

 cheapest of all producing countries ; rent is much less, and the health 

 better than Ceylon and the Straits. I would, however, suggest that 

 Java companies should plant for each acre of rubber one acre of coco- 

 nuts. They would then be on a still better footing." 



Ceara Rubber. 



Asked his opinion of Ceara rubber, Mr. Welldon said: — "What 

 I say regarding Ceara applies to Ceylon. It has been found that we 

 have got an inferior kind of that rubber in Ceylon. There are five 

 kinds of Ceara, and Ceylon at the ouset got the fourth quality. Now 

 she is getting the third, and finds that the third is yielding better than 

 the fourth. The first two kinds have still to come to the island, and it 

 is known that they are better-yielding trees, and give a better quality of 

 rubber. When they come the result will probably be an increase in 

 the acreage grown in districts like Anuradhapura and Trincomalie, 

 because Ceara grows best in a dry climate such as is experienced in 

 these localities." 



Labour in the Straits. 



"Did anything impress you while in the Straits, such as the 

 outlook for labour or the standard of superintendent." 



" The labour arrangements are excellent, and the outlook regarding 

 labour is better than the outlook in Ceylon. Superintendents, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Val. Carey, are very bad, but the estates I saw were in good 

 order and the work was well done. During my stay there I visited 

 Bukit Rajah, Harpenden, Beverlac, Kapar, North Hummock, Ayer 

 Kuning, Tremelbye and a few others. I think that, perhaps, Mr. Carey's 

 pen ran away with him, as leading Visiting Agents also told me the 

 picture was an exaggerated one. We have sent very good men from 

 Ceylon, but, when the demand became excessive, owing to large 

 acreages being opened, the Straits probably took a few men they would 

 not have taken had the rush been absent and had they had their choice 

 of men." 



Times of Ceylon, May 28th 1908. 



RUBBER COAGULATION, 



A New Process Described. 



Whatever may be the differences of opinion between manufacturers 

 as to the value of the different species of crude rubber available in the 

 world's markets, they are certainly- unanimous in pronouncing the 



