572 Hie Supplement to the 



THE BRAZIL KUBBEK JNDUSTRY. 



In Brazil they are recognising the fact that 

 under existing conditions the rubber industry 

 is not in a position to compete with the plant- 

 ation enterprise of the Middle East. On the sub- 

 ject of the large — and improved — dividends de- 

 clared by some Middle East plantation rubber 

 companies which have been converted from a 

 rupee to a sterling basis, the "Brazilian Re- 

 view " says: — 11 This sort of thing means so many 

 more nails in the coffin of Brazil's rubber in- 

 dustry, unless there i3 a very rapid move for 

 better conditions." 



It should be noted that the President of the 

 Brazilian Republic has signed a decree approv- 

 ing the regulations of law which provides for 



THE IMPROVEMENT'OF COMHTIONS IN THE 

 AMAZON VALLEY. 



The main provisions of the law are as follows : — 

 (1) The encouragement of the extractive in- 

 dustry and the cultivation of the principal 

 rubber producing trees ; (2) the establishment 

 of refineries and factories for the making 

 of rubber goods ; (3) granting of aid to immi- 

 grants on their arrival and to labourers already 

 settled in the Amazon Valley ; (4) to improve 

 methods of transport and reduce freights in the 

 Amazon Valley ; (5) to establish centres for tho 

 production of food stuffs in the Amazon Valley; 

 (6) to look into and legalise the titles by which 

 land is held in the Federal Territory of the 

 Acre ; (7) to hold triennial exhibitions in Rio 

 embracing everything relating to the rubber 

 industry; (8) to make arrangements with the 

 States producing seringa rubber for the reduc- 

 tion of export duties and for the protection and 

 expansion of the rubber trade. 



Apropos the product of the Amazon country 

 and the statement made with reference to it, 

 viz., that " every ton of rubber costs a human 

 life, ' the " India Rubber World " of New York 

 discusses the health conditions of that -egion. 

 It says : " It is quite likely that each year s out- 

 put of rubber from the Amazon costs 20,1)00 

 human lives, perhaps more. This extreme mor- 

 tality is attributable to a variety of reasons — 

 primarily to the climate conditions, which ren- 

 der it almost impossible for a white man to live 

 in that region; to the swamp fevers; the dreaded 

 beri-beri; the wild animals, and still worse the 

 poisonous snakes of the jungles; to the unes- 

 capable pests of mosquitoes and other insects ; 

 to the extremely unwholesome food and worse 

 drink, the typhoid-producing water; to the 

 feeble preventive measures so far taken and 

 the inadequate remedial agencies hitherto em- 

 ployed. All of these combine to create condi- 

 tions under which human life is well-nigh im- 

 possible. 



" Over against this compare the conditions 

 that obtain in plantation countries, and especi- 

 ally in those sections where the largest and meet 

 prosperous plantations have been started. Here 

 the labourers, or the greater part of them, live 

 under the most sanitary conditions possible in 

 a tropical climate. They are wholesomely fed, 

 and given pure water to drink. They are ade- 

 quately sheltered ; they are protected as far as 

 possible from mosquitoes and other disease- 

 pearing insects j they are kept under expert 



Tropical Agriculturist 



medical surveillance and given prompt medical 

 attention; with the result that they enjoy bet- 

 ter health than labours engaged in other occu- 

 pations in the same community. In other words, 

 in a large plantation district, rubber gathering 

 instead of being destructive of life is a preserver 

 of health, and a conserver of life. . . . It is 

 not necessary to make a nice analysis for the 

 purpose of detecting just what percentage of 

 this fortunate situation is attributable to the 

 working of the planter's heart and how much to 

 the operation of the planter's head. The fact 

 remains that a plantation of rubber is as free 

 from human sacrifice as almost any line of human 

 endeavour." Those who have lived for a vear or 

 two on some rubber plantations in the Mid-East 

 may not be quite so impressed with the attrac- 

 tions of this vivid picture in its applications to 

 health but by comparison with wild rubber con- 

 ditions it will be generally admitted that your 

 New York contemporary is right when it says, 

 ' ' the constantly increasing proportion of planta- 

 tion rubber not only makes for the commercial 

 stability of the whole rubber industry, but for 

 its humaneness."— H. & C. Mail, May 17. 



TEA DRINKING BN FRANCE, 



GERMANY, &C 



In reply to a "Student of Statistics" who 

 wrote expressing surprise at the slow progress 

 made by tea-drinking in countries like France 

 and Germany, a " Student of the Tea Market 1 

 points out that in these countries the place of 

 tea has hitherto been taken chiefly by wine and 

 beor, coffee and chocolate, and that it is a very 

 hard thing to break down national customs, es- 

 pecially in eating and drinking. The tea market 

 student goes on to say there are indications 

 that these prejudices are gradually being over- 

 come, but this has not been done without much 

 pains and cost to the representatives of the In- 

 dian and Ceylon planting communities, by whom, 

 however, for a number of years past, a steady 

 propaganda has been kept going, more particu- 

 larly in Germany, Belgium, Australia, Southern 

 t-'candinavia, and, to a smaller extent, in France 

 and Italy. He then refers to "a special commis- 

 sioner, resident in Germany, devoting his entire 

 time and effort to the introduction of Indian teas 

 into that and surrounding countries. For the 

 moment owing to the great prosperity of the 

 tea industry, there is a tendency to relax these 

 efforts, but it vviii, in my view, be a very great 

 pity if this should occur. Should production 

 again tend to oufstrip consumption by the older 

 tea drinking countries — which are few in number 

 comparatively— prices might again fall to an un- 

 remunerative level, as they did not more than 

 five or six years ago, and then the advantage of 

 having frt'sh channels opened up would be of 

 inestimable advantage. It is therefore sincerely 

 to be hoped," he adds,' that those in authority 

 (and they possess the means in the shapes of the 

 Indian Cess and the Ceylon 'Thirty Committee's 

 Funds') will not relax their efforts, but continue 

 to peg away not only in Germany, but in other 

 European countries, educating, by every pos- 

 sible means, the peoples there to the advantages 

 to be derived from the use of pure and good te»," 

 — #, & Q % Mail, May 17. 



