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The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



37, Threadneedle Street, E.O., 



March 10th, 1908. 



The Secretary, The City Association, Limited, 3 and 4 

 Great Winchester Street, E.C. 



Dear Sir,— In reply to your letter of the 9th instant, 

 addressed to Mr. Cowie, I am to say :— (1).— That any 

 number of Javanese Coolies ban now be engaged in Java 

 on fair terms, for work on North Borneo Rubber and 

 Tobacco Estates. (2).— That no Export Duty will be 

 charged on cultivated Rubber for a period of 50 years from 

 1st April, 1905. (3).— That Mr. Cowie considers the un- 

 cultivated portion of the Sekong Estate to be worth more 

 than £2 an acre.— Yours faithfully, (Signed) Hakinoton 

 G FOKBES, Secretary. British North Borneo Company. 



As will be seen from the above letter, the im- 

 portation of Javanese coolies has now been ar- 

 ranged for with the Netherlands Government, 

 and judging from the large areas recently 

 planted by other Companies in North Borneo 

 apparently no difficulty is being exprienced in 

 obtaining all the labour required. 



Valuation.— Mr. R Caldicott Wright, having 

 regard to the heavy fall in the price of rubber at 

 the end of 1907, valued the cultivated land at 

 £22,500. Buildings, nurseries and seeds at 

 £675.— £23,175. Mr. K C Wright valued the 

 Forest Land at what would appear from the 

 above Government statements to be the very 

 low figure of 25s. per acre. Therefore 8,491 

 acres of Reserve land selected from the above, 

 at 25s. per acre £10,613.— £33,788. 



June, 29th, 1908. 



THE WORLD'S FUTURE SUPPLIES 

 OF RUBBER. 



In a few years, if our expectations are 

 realised, as we have no doubt they will be, 

 Ceylon and British Malaya, with Java and 

 Sumatra, will be sending sufficient supplies of 

 Para rubber to relieve the British manufacturer 

 from all apprehension of a rubber famine. The 

 production of rubber on a large scale will then 

 be distributed over the three most important 

 tropical regions of the earth— South America, 

 Africa and Asia— and continuity of supply will 

 be assured. 



We are not sure that the debt owing by the 

 British rubber manufacturer to the planting 

 interests and Government Departments which 

 have wrought this result is yet fully realised. 

 The necessity of widening the area of supplies, 

 as well as providing for a larger output of their 

 raw material, has been grasped by the cotton 

 manufacturers of this country, who have founded 

 and endowed the British Cotton Growing Asso- 

 ciation to carry out their views. It has also 

 been realised by the German rubber manufac- 

 turers, who similarly support the Kolonial Wirt- 

 schaftliches Komitee. On the other hand, all 

 this work has been done for the British rubber 

 manufacturer free of cost. 



It is true, of course, that the product of the 

 Eastern plantation industry is, unlike Philip- 

 pine hemp and Formosa camphor, free to find 

 its own market, and this it is doing with a ven- 

 geance ! Of the total exports of rubber from 

 Ceylon between 1st January and the Llth May 

 this year, viz.,. 225,459 lb., 132,003 lb. found its 

 way to this country, 72,280 lb. went to America, 

 10,384 lb. to Australia, and 8,743 lb, to Germany, 

 '—India Rubber Journal, June*29. 



JAPANESE RUBBER MANUFACTURING 

 INDUSTRY. 



The manufacturing industry of rubber in 

 Japan, though of quite recent growth, has made 

 striking progress within a few years. The 

 domestic product has now attained a position to 

 compete with foreign makes in quality. It is 

 now widely used for machinery and also as 

 material for various tools, instruments and toys. 

 The situation is so thriving that only a small 

 portion of the demand is no w supplied by foreign 

 imports. The only complaint about shortcomings 

 of home-made rubber is its weakness and con- 

 sequent inability to stand long use. But this is 

 the natural result accompanying a cheap price 

 and this was the case of ten years ago when the 

 domestic manufacture was in a state of infancy. 

 At present it is not difficult to get articles even 

 superior to foreign make in stability and dex- 

 terity of workmanship if tho proper price be 

 payable. Some are inclined to conceive that the 

 domestic product must be comparatively high 

 in price because of the absence of raw materials 

 in this country. But they are quite mistaken in 

 believing this, for the foreign made articles are 

 subject to a heavy tariff of 20-40 per cent, while 

 raw materials are not taxed so that the domestic 

 product must be cheaper than the foreign made 

 articles. There is no article of rubber which 

 can not be made in Japan. The most important 

 of those articles are rubber tubes, plates, etc., 

 used in engineering and balls as toys. However, 

 the peculiar article made in Japan are rubber 

 socks first invented by the Japan Rubber Manu- 

 facturing Compauy. Since their first appearance 

 the new socks at once won great popularity 

 and became widely used, especially among the 

 lower classes. The above mentioned company, 

 which is the only establishment of the kind in 

 this country of comparative extensive capacity, 

 has recently effected the enlargement of its 

 business at the same time increasing its capital, 

 being forced to do so as the natural consequence 

 of the development of the industry and the 

 growing demand for rubber articles. In short 

 the future prospect of the industry is very hope- 

 ful, and the prevailing inactivity of the general 

 industrial circles has very little affected this line. 

 The only regret is that the raw materials are not 

 found in this country which greatly impedes the 

 development of the industry. However, it is 

 very pleasing to hear that some time ago a 

 special kind of vine plant productive of gum was 

 discovered in Formosa where the plants are said 

 to be growing in wild abundance in the moun- 

 tains and valleys. These plants are now being 

 examined and if they prove successful will no 

 doubt greatly contribute to the further develop- 

 ment of the domestic rubber industry. — Japan 

 Times, June 13. 



RUBBER IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



Professor Harrison, c.m.g., in a recent letter 

 to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 reports that the various rubber trees planted 

 at the Experiment Station and on the farms in 

 the North-Western District are doing very well, 

 and showing rapid growth. About 120,000 trees 

 have been planted during the past two or three 

 years.— W. I. Agricultural News } May 13, 



