Gurus, Resins, 



486 



[June, 1912, 



foreign companies registered in the State 

 for the cultivation of rubber (Hevea 

 Brasiliensis), cacao, nuts, etc, The privi- 

 leges offered include grants of public 

 land up to 200,000 hectares (about 494,000 

 acres) ; reduction by 50 per cent, of the 

 export duties and State dues upon the 

 rubber, etc., produced, during the first 

 ten years from the date of the first 

 shipment, decreasing by 10 per cent, for 

 each decade up to fifty years ; reduction 

 of State railway rates and of the freight 

 charges by steamship lines subventioned 

 by the State ; waiving for ten years of 

 the industrial and professional State and 

 Municipal imposts upon the company's 

 premises. 



The concessionaire companies will be 

 obliged, among other things, to plant 

 not less than 50,000 rubber trees during 

 the first five years of the concession, and 

 20,000 trees annually after that period , 

 to comply as regards their produce, with 

 the instructions of the Department of 

 Agriculture ; and to concede to the 

 Government the supervision of the whole 

 activity of the companies, In case of 

 failure to plant a minimum of 50,000 

 rubber trees within the first five years, 

 the concession will become void. The 

 State Government will try to obtain 

 from the Federal Government, on behalf 

 of the concessonaires, a suspension of 

 taxation as regards the importation of 

 machinerry and anything else required 

 for the preparation and cultivation of 

 the soil. 



RUBBER EXPOSITIONS AS A TRADE 

 STIMULUS. 



By Sir Henry A. Blake, c.g.m.g.* 

 (Prom the India Rubber World, Vol. 

 XLV., No. 6, March 1, 1912.) 

 Two stalwart young London judges 

 playing "pull devil pull baker," with 

 various sheets of rubber gave me my 



* Ex-Governor of Ceylon, Hong Kong and 

 other British Colonies ; President of the 1908 

 and 1911 International Rubber and Allied Trades 

 Exhibitions, London; and President of the 

 European Committee of the Coming New York 

 Rubber Exposition. 



first introduction to the practical testing 

 of sheet and biscuit rubber in the prize 

 competition at the first rubber exhibition 

 held in the beautiful Botanic Gardens at 

 Peradeuiya in Ceylon. The rubber was 

 being tested for tensile strength, tenuity, 

 and resilience. This was in the year 1906. 



In 1873 the first seeds of the Hevea 

 Brasiliensis were brought to the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens at Kew by Mr. 

 Wickham, whose success in obtaining 

 them and sending them to England, 

 showed great readiness and resource. 

 The seeds were intended for India, but 

 as there was at the time a scare against 

 the possible introduction of plant 

 diseases into India that Government re- 

 fused to receive them, and they were 

 sent to Ceylon instead, where a plant- 

 ation was made at Heneratgoda Botanic 

 Gardens, From those trees, now large 

 forest trees, came the seeds that have 

 spread the cultivation of Hevea Brasi- 

 liensis from Ceylon to Java and Papua 

 in the east. 



In Ceylon the young trees were planted 

 as shade trees for the tea and in some 

 cases as avenues along the roadsides. 

 For many years nobody seemed to realize 

 the value of the latex. At length, when 

 cutting some shade trees, an intelligent 

 observer pointed Out that this was the 

 basis of the rubber for which high prices 

 were being obtained. At once owners 

 of quantities of these shade trees found 

 themselves comparatively rich men. 

 Prices continued to rise, and in 1905, 6 

 and 7 feverish anxiety was shown to 

 take up and plant lands suitable for 

 rubber. In 1910 the price of rubber rose 

 to 12s. per pound, and the shares of 

 producing companies mounted with 

 amazing rapidity. Immense fortunes 

 were made by some, and rubber pro- 

 perties were considered inexhaustible 

 sources cf wealth. 



At the close of 1905, it was proposed 

 that an exhibition of everything con- 

 nected with the planting and preparation 

 of rubber should be held. The extraction 

 of the latex and its preparation were so 

 far very simple. The latex was poured 

 into soup plates, where it coagulated, 



