and Magazine o) the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Jan., 1910. 83 



RUBBER COMPANY PROMOTION IN 

 THE F. M. S. 



A Lurid Picture. 



The Penang Gazette is very jealous of the fair 

 name of the sister colony in the matter of Com- 

 pany promotion. In the course of an article in 

 its issue of 7th December headed "a rubber 

 warning 11 the following sketch appears and we 

 are assured " there have been several notations 

 recently of which it represents a faithful des- 

 cription's—During the last twelve months we 

 have seen a select little band of persons, who a 

 year ago hardly knew the difference between a 

 rubber tree and a coconut palm, desert then- 

 desks and rush wildy about the country, getting 

 options on every little bit of a native-owned 

 Kebungetta where a couple of Para seedlings 

 peep coyly out through the ' '■ undulating lalang." 

 Wearing an air of importance and ill-fitting 

 khaki clothes, talking in millions and thinking 

 in square miles, they seem to have succeeded in 

 finding " experts " willing to furnish for a con- 

 sideration the reports they require. Then it 

 merely becomes necessary to share the spoils 

 with " a firm in the City," get an ornamental 

 board of guinea-pigs together, advertise and 

 puff the flotation extensively in the Loudon 

 financial papers and the public— the same dear, 

 stupid old public which rushed after John Law 

 and Jabez Balfour — will fall over one another to 

 obtain shares. The issue is "largely over- 

 subscribed " and for the time being everyone is 

 satisfied. The towkai/ has got rather more than 

 the value of his kebun, the philanthropic pro- 

 moter has got some hard cash and a parcel of 

 shares which he will gradually unload on a con- 

 fiding public, the directors have got their dou- 

 ceurs and their fees, and the happy shareholders 

 have got their precious estate, which they 

 fondly imagine to be rather better than Lana- 

 dron or Vallambrosa, It is a charming little 

 game, but it must not be played too slowly by 

 the promoter, whose motto should be "the more, 

 the merrier " as his object is to "make hay 

 while the sun shines." 



MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF RUPEE 

 RUBBER CO. CROPS. 



Dec. 5th. 



Dear Sir, — As you are well aware, on the 

 morning of the 2nd of each month, the London 

 financial papers begin publishing the cabled 

 reports of rubber crop harvested by Straits Com- 

 panies during the previous mouth and by the 

 4th or 5th all the returns have appeared. 



When one endeavours to praise Rupee Com- 

 panies at home, the chief reason given by would- 

 be investorsfornot taking shares mthese is(after 

 mentioning the slight inconvenience of changing 

 Sterling into Rupees) the difficulty in getting 

 information about the doings of these Companies. 



" Why" — did a man tell me — "should I go in 

 for these concerns when the antiquated policy of 

 keeping as long as possible all information for 

 the Directors, the Agents and their favoured 

 friends is still tolerated by local investors." 



The Seremban Co.— now a Sterling one — is 

 aboutthe only Company to send you its monthly 

 crop; but why on earth should not large pro- 

 ducing Companes like Jebong, Beverlac, Grand 

 Central and all the Teas and Teascum- Rubber 

 Companies send you monthly a short statement 

 of their results? 



No long sentences. Simply Co. 



November, so many lbs. Total to date. . . . 



To same date last year 



I am sure you would willingly publish just these 

 two lines from the leading Companies and this 

 information would in turn be taken from you by 

 the London Financial papers for the great satis- 

 faction of home investors. 



The quarterly crop statements, with the prices 

 obtained, could continue to be issued to share- 

 holders four times a year. 



I mean to attend all the coming meetings of 

 Companies I have shares in and will propose that 

 such a course be followed; but shall I get any 

 supoort ? — Yours sincerely, 



L. B. W. 



PERCENTAGE OF SCRAP TO FINE 

 PLANTATION RUBBER. 



We call attention to the further letter of 

 " C. W. H.'' below, and would like to hear 

 from some of our leading rubber planters, 

 what their average percentage of scrap rubber 

 is to their total crop, and by what rules or 

 methods they reduce or limit it. 



I. 



Colombo, Dec. 12th. 



Deak Sir,— My letters to you on the subject 

 of " Percentage of Scrap" do not appear to have 

 excited the interest I hoped ; at any rate the 

 only reply they have so far provoked fell short 

 of the precise information I desired. Yet it 

 seems to me that the subject is not without 

 interest, nor one that need remain clouded in 

 mystery 1 I have heard it stated that on some 

 estates Superintendents are not allowed to show 

 more than a certain percentage of scrap col- 

 lected as such ; in others, that scrap is not con- 

 sidered worth the trouble of collection because 

 of the cost when it does not exceed a somewhat 

 similar percentage. One would suppose that there 

 must be good and sufficient reasons for such var- 

 iety of practice ; and yet the underlying common 

 principle, if there is any, is hard to recognise. 



What is clear is, that as the price of fine 

 rubber recedes, there will be lessdemand for the 

 inferior qualities except at a price which will 

 become less and less proportionately to the cost 

 of collection. On the other hand greater efforts 

 will doubtless be made to lessen wastage or 

 deterioration of good latex at the source by 

 more efficient methods of collection. 



In those days it will be known to a nicety 

 what percentage of latex may be expected from 

 the collecting cups, and what may have to 

 be brought in by manual labour. 



Am I premature — or only too inquisitive — in 

 asking those, who are able, to supply such infor- 

 mation at the present time ?— Yours faithful^ 



0. W, H, 



