Gums,ZResinSi 



392 



[November, 1909. 



it is an absolute essential. The opti- 

 mistic view that the demand will before 

 long exceed the supply is not more un- 

 likely than the more usual view or the 

 pessimist that the continued planting of 

 rubber will result in a supply larger 

 than the demand, aLd consequently a 

 considerable drop in prices. 



That the market will be overstocked 

 with rubber is still a haunting fear of 

 the owner of rubber property, but as 

 each year brings new uses for rubber, 

 and increases the amount used in direc- 

 tions where its value is already known, 

 the possibility of over-production seems 

 less probable. 



Many expert authorities expect that 

 developments in the direction of rubber 

 street-paving, covering for decks of 

 ships, etc., may be looked for in the 

 near future. Some two or three years 

 ago, when I was looking into the question 

 of rubber pavement, I estimated that 

 two-inch-thick rubber of the quality 

 which the London and North- Western 

 Railway had so successfully used in the 

 rubber pavement at the entrance of 

 Euston Station if used for paving the 

 streets of London, which are at present 

 laid with wood or asphalt, would require 

 about 90,000 tons of crude rubber. 



If the prophecies so frequently made 

 by experts as to the increase in the use 

 of motor cars are fulfilled, we have 

 another large and increasing demand 

 for rubber of good quality, and wherever 

 the future possibilities of expansion in 

 the rubber market is studied it is found 

 to be more than hopeful- The purposes 

 for which rubber can and will be used 

 economically are unlimited, and we may 

 look forward to a coming rubber age on 

 which all the most suitable rubber 

 planting areas of the world, of which 

 Malaya can claim to be the best, will be 

 required to supply a firm and increasing 

 demand, 



Malaya possesses the finest climate in 

 the world foi the rapid and healthy 

 growth of Para rubber, and, since 

 millions of acres suitable for this culti- 

 vation are still available, there is every 

 probability that this country will be in 

 the future one of the largest producers 

 of rubber in the world. 



The fear of over-production is to some 

 extent pardonable on examining the 

 magnitude of the figures relating to 

 rubber planting in Malaya, but a con- 

 sideration of the possibilities of the 

 world's future requirements takes the 

 student into figures besides which those 

 of Malaya are but small. 



THE BRITISH RUBBER FEVER. 



(From the India Rubber World, Vol. 

 XL., No. 6, September, 1909.) 



O furor do plantio en Ceylaocontinua na 

 Sua febre ascensional. (The plantation 

 frenzy in Ceylon continues with growing 

 intensity.)— .A Manaos neswspaper. 



The American word "boom "accur- 

 ately describes the activity of European 

 — and especially British — investors in 

 subscribing to the capital of planting 

 companies in the Far East since rubber 

 reached the unprecedented $2 mark. 

 The India Rubber World already has 

 chronicled the payment of dividends of 

 rubber planting companies, in figures as 

 high as 80 per cent. With " consols " at 

 only 2g per cent., it is not surprising that 

 company promoters should take advant- 

 age of the recent successes of some 

 planting companies to part the British 

 fool from his money with rubber as a 

 lure. But every " boom " is followed by 

 a " fizzle," and it is to be feared that the 

 latter term must be applied ere long to 

 some of the recently floated undertakings 

 in rubber planting. 



The India Rubber World has a list of 

 rubber culture companies registered in 

 London during the month of July, which, 

 while not complete, embraces twenty- 

 four corporations, with an aggregate 

 nominal capitalization of £1,317,040 

 ( = 16,409,375). Now this is a great 

 deal of money, and there is reason 

 to believe that a large part of it 

 actually has been paid over. The 

 new enterprises referred to are planned 

 to do business in nine different countries 

 and colonies ; it appears immaterial 

 to the investors where a new com- 

 pany proposes to operate, so long as 

 rubber is mentioned in its prospectus. 

 At the same time, so-called rubber 

 planting companies have been brought 

 out in several other European countries, 

 and in Malaysia, Ceylon, and so on. 



Now the large dividends of certain 

 well-established rubber plantation com- 

 panies in the Far East undoubtedly 

 have been honestly earned. Most of the 

 dividends reported up to date were 

 declared and paid before the late extra- 

 ordinary rise in the price of rubber ; the 

 latter, in fact, not only must be regarded 

 as temporary, but it had nothing to do 

 with the dividends of 50 to 80 per cent, 

 already referred to. But it is a mistake 

 to suppose that, because certain planta- 

 tions have been successful in producing 

 rubber, every plantation— without re- 

 gard to soil, altitude or sun exposure — 

 will yield equally good results. There 



