82 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



strength of the native Para, and will last as long 

 as the wild Rubber if kept in a crude state for 

 years. 



This Coagulating Plant has, therefore, not 

 only the advantages of dispensing with the 

 assistance of chemical agents in a liquid form 

 but also allows the producer to send to the 

 market the only preparation that satisfies all 

 the Rubber Manufacturers' needs throughout 

 the whole world. In addition to this, it also 

 possesses the unique property of being the only 

 apparatus which can convert the latex of the 

 Castilloa Elastica, Funtumia Elastiea, etc., etc., 

 into a Rubber of equal market value, appear- 

 ance and colour, to that of the best Para 

 exported from Brazil. 



RUBBER, MANUFACTURER'S REPORT. 



A Rubber manufacturer's report regarding 

 Bmoked rubber produced by Da Costa's Patent 

 Coagulating Plant is as follows : — 



Referring to your letter of the 6th of Septem- 

 ber, re special smoked Para Rubber sample, 

 I have pleasure in passing you under separate 

 cover today, a piece of the Rubb%r washed out 

 from the sample sent, as well as a piece, of 

 the prepared Vulcanized sheet 3/16" thick made 

 from the same sample. May be seen at Messrs 

 Zacharias Ltd. Co's. office. The mixture of 

 course contained no drugs or other material, 

 but just sufficient sulphur for Vulcanizing 

 purposes. There are also three round samples 

 5/16" and 3/8" and 7/16" diameter. There are 

 four samples of Vulcanized Rubber and the 

 sample of washed Rubber will show up the 

 value and quality of the Rubber. I am very 

 pleased with the Rubber and must say it 

 has worked out better than 1 really expected 

 and I consider the smoked Rubber worth 

 anything from 4/6 to 5/6 per lb : there is, how- 

 ever, an excess of moisture over and above the 

 best Para.— Malay Mail, Dec. 23. 



THE LATEST SUMATRA RUBBER CO. 



Sumatra continues to attract the attention of 

 rubber company promoters. Mr. Fritz Zorn in 

 the latest edition of his useful manual makes 

 special allusion to the possibilities of Sumatra 

 when he writes: — "Perhaps the most note- 

 worthy feature of the last twelve months is the 

 way in which some of the newer rubber produc- 

 ing centres have been coming to the front. 

 Sumatra, especially, is Very much in evidence, 

 and the performances in the way of production 

 already achieved by some of the more mature 

 estates there, point to great future potentialities 

 for the Island as a source of supply. ;I The New 



Sumatra Rubber and Tobacco Co. is the most 

 ambitious concern that has yet been launched 

 in Sumatra and the capital of £250,000 is only 

 approached by the well-known Sumatra-Deli 

 Rubber Estates, Ltd., which has a capital of 

 £240,000. Of the directors mentioned Mr. 

 Keith Arbuthnot has already interests in Suma- 

 tra being a Director of the United Serdang 

 Rubber Plantations, Ltd. If this is the Suma- 

 tra flotation which has several times been 

 alluded to as likely to go through early in 

 January there is, we believe, on the estates to 

 be acquired a fair amount of old rubber— trees 

 up to 11 years old now — and altogether the 

 property will have 864 acres of five-year-old to 

 13-year-old rubber two years hence, in bearing 

 ^t.a cost of £30 per acre besides a considerable 

 acreage of younger periods. 



RUBBER NOTES. 



The Select Committee of the Demerara Court 

 of Policy has modified the terms and conditions 

 under w Crown lands in the Guiana Colony 

 are proposed to be sold or leased for the purpose 

 of growing rubber. A number of important 

 alterations were approved ifor the consideration 

 of the Government. It was decided to recom- 

 mend that lands for the purpose of rubber grow- 

 ing should not in the first instant be granted 

 absolutely, but should be leased, and a motion 

 that it be a condition of the lease that no rent be 

 charged during the first ten years was also 

 carried. A further motion that the lessee of 

 lands leased for planting rubber should have the 

 right to purchase the land at the < j nd of ten 

 years if he had complied with the conditions of 

 the lease was adopted by four votes to three, and 

 it was decided to recommend that the period for 

 which leases should be granted should be ninety- 

 nine years, instead of the period of twenty-five 

 years, as stated in the original conditions. 

 Other recommendations decided upon were that 

 during the first ton years 2 cents per pound 

 should be collected on rubber, that no royalty 

 be charged after ten years, that the annual rental 

 should be 20 cents an acre after the tenth year 

 to the fifteenth, and from the sixteenth year on- 

 wards 50 cents per acre per annum ; and that $4 

 per acre should be the purchase price. It was 

 stated that, besides the application of the 

 British Guiana Rubber Corporation for 4,000 

 acres in the north-west district, application had 

 been made in respect of two other tracts of land, 

 one of 640 acres on the right bank of the 

 Essequebo River, Bonasika Creek, and the other 

 of 1,280 acres on the left bank of the Essequebo 

 River, 



