and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



571 



BRAZILLIAN RUBBER. 



Some Interesting Information Regarding 

 Amazon Production. 



[The writer of the following article decided to per- 

 sonally investigate the position and possible prospects 

 of Brazilian rubber (i.e., " wild ") on the spot in 1902-3. 

 It was not, however, until 1906 he was able to put his 

 intention into effect, but in the last-mentioned yoar he 

 was able to proceed to South America, and in the fol- 

 lowing article, which we print without assuming responsi- 

 bility for his views and comments, he Igives the result 

 (in petto) of his investigations.— Ed. F. & B.) 



Arriving in Para, I found that it would 

 be useless to try and depend on any second- 

 hand particulars I might receive, and, going 

 on to Manaos, had little better success. Pew, 

 if any, of the rubber growers keep a set of 

 books that any accountant could make head 

 or tail of, although their gross turnover might 

 be £50,000 a year. The brokers, merchants, 

 and importers and shippers did not appear 

 to be the men who would assist a Company 

 representative in any serious investigations, 

 seeing that they are concerned in upholding 

 the present system, which is by far the best way 

 of doing business they are aware of. Beyond 

 that, the knowledge they possess of a working 

 rubber estate would not be of great value, 

 being only concerned with the produce after 

 the arrival at either Para or Manaos. 



How Rubbek is Handled. 



The system of working or gathering rubber 

 and handling seemed to be the most difficult to 

 understand, and everyone interested had dif- 

 ferent views on the matter. Having travelled up 

 to and through some big working properties on 

 the Upper Amazon, I had little further trouble 

 in getting at the exact position of both rubber 

 grower or owner or labourer. Taking first an 

 estate producing 150 tons per annum and em- 

 ploying 450 men, the owner would have his own 

 river steamer of about 70 or 80 tons burden 

 carrying his own goods up river, returning with 

 rubber in the season from July to January very 

 little fine rubber being collected during the 

 earlier months (caucho only is gathered in wet 

 season on uplands). The grower usually makes 

 all arrangements for a year's supply of merch- 

 andise in the months of April to June ; if his 

 credit is very good, his advances will cost him 1 

 per cent a month ; if only average, from \\ per 

 cent to 2£ per cent per month ; and the cost of 

 his goods, after being landed in merchant's ware- 

 house duty paid, etc., and the other costs will be 

 1 8 per cent to 25 per cent wholesale and about 

 45 per cent retail higher. Therefore, the sup- 

 plies for 450 men would be about £30,000, under 

 most favourable terms, on arrival of goods at 

 seringal (or estate) on any of the lower part of 

 Purus, Jurua, or Jutaby rivers. The head- 

 men (or chiefs), I may mention, receive the 

 stuff from the owner, paying him (in rubber, 

 when it is gathered), in addition to insurance 

 (2 per cent to 3 per cent) and costs of hand- 

 ling, freight charges, etc., a commission of 10 

 per cent. The headman or chief may have 

 from six to thirty men under him, and will mark 

 the goods received from the grower at an ad- 

 vance of 25 per cent to 50 per cent, The labourers 



are supposed to be responsible to the chiefs, and 

 they in turn to owners, for goods advanced. Each 

 ordinary labourer works to estradas or zig-zag 

 roads which wind around through the jungle 

 until they connect up 100 to 150 trees each road, 

 and tho number of trees will, without any dam- 

 ago or injury give from 300 to 400 kilogrammes 

 in a season or up to 880 lb. The labourer lands 

 this on the river banks, and pays 10 per cent 

 through the chief or the owner as royalty. The 

 price he receives for rubber is from 1,500 to 2,000 

 reis per kilogramme below market price. The 

 rubber is not weighed or cased in Manaos, and 

 any impurities caused by the labourer are 

 charged up to him. The cost of both is paid by 

 the grower, if he prefers to cut or classify his 

 own rubber, as most of them do. 



The price on which duty is paid, called pauta 

 [?] is arranged every Sunday, and is based on the 

 kind— Manaos or Para, as the case may De- 

 value ruling during the previous week, and 

 whether rubber goes up or down, it remains the 

 same. This price with rubber is at 5s per lb. 

 for fine hard Para in London would work out 

 at 3s 6d per lb. in Manaos. The costs that 

 have to come out of the Is 6d difference would 

 be cartage to harbour dues, export clues (22| per 

 cent.), dispatch and stamp, insurance, fire and 

 marine dues, and freight to Liverpool (about £3 

 5s per ton). 



Of course, rubber shipped direct after being 

 brought down river would, on arrival in Europe 

 have reduced in weight from 3 to 4 per cent.,' 

 but it all depends on where it has come from'. 

 To arrive at the actual cost of producing rubber 

 and landing it in Europe it is necessary to con- 

 sider the actual price then ruling, as everything 

 is on a sliding scale and varies weekly if the 

 market price does. I propose to take the price 

 at os per lb. (London) and exchange at 15-J-d. 

 Under these conditions the cost to place of con- 

 signment in cases on Manaos market would be 

 2s 3d to 2s 6d per lb. To this one may add the 

 export dues and freight to Liverpool, which will 

 fetch the cost up to about 3s 4d per lb. landing 

 in this country. This gives the profits that 

 would be made by an ordinary property wor- 

 king under the general custom and subject to 

 all charges, being of course, able to send pro- 

 duce to Europe. This some of the growers can 

 do, but I am showing this as an example. The 

 only growers who also are exporters are men 

 who, boing merchants, have acquired properties 

 through making advances on merchandise and 

 take less interest in the working of their estates 

 than the original owners.— Financier, Nov. 15 



RUBBER IN COCHIN-CHINA. 



Papers laid before the Colonial Council at 

 Saigon show that rubber cultivation has gained 

 a firm foothold in Cochiu-China The area 

 under Hevea had risen from 30 hectares (7J acres) 

 in 1906 to 5(54 hectares in December, 19U8. The 

 estates are mostly in the hands of the companies 

 which command plenty of capital. Only one of 

 thorn, tho Xatrach Co., duals exclusively in 

 rubber ; the others grow different catch-crops 

 —S trails paper, 



