and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society 



9") 



as it is quite probable that fine hard Vara will 

 be brought down to 2s. 6d. per lb. If a tax of 

 22 per cent, is put up against rubber at that 



Erice, it is obvious that Eastern plantations will 

 e in a very strong position. 



Will the Scheme be Enforced ? 



We have conferred with parties who are 

 vitally connected with the Para trade, and shall 

 take further steps to ensure the widest publicity 

 being given to what we consider a dangerous 

 and impossible proposition. Many people do 

 not believe that the scheme will ever be put 

 into force ; if a trial is made, it is anticipated 

 that it will only be for a very short period, and 

 that within a year or so from now an entirely 

 different scheme, involving radical changes in 

 the present system, will be put before the 

 authorities. We should have thought that the 

 experience with coffee would have prevented 

 the Para Government from attempting to inter- 

 fere with rubber ; evidently this is not the case, 

 and merchants and dealers may have to face 

 unsettled conditions during the coming year. 

 In the end we feel sure that, as with the Gov- 

 ernment's coffee experiment, the scheme will 

 place them in a worse position than they have 

 ever been in before. We are of the opinion that 

 too much importance should not be attached to 

 the new proposals, in view of alternative plans 

 which will soon be submitted to Government. 

 In the meantime we expect that an initial re- 

 duction of the municipal tax will probably take 

 effect, and that taxes will subsequently be still 

 further reduced in order to maintain the export 

 trade in a sound condition. Very little good 

 can accrue from the bolstering-up scheme we 

 have referred to ; in fact, the entire abolition of 

 export taxes alone will never place the Brazilian 

 rubber trade in a position to successfully com- 

 pete with Eastern plantations. If any readers 

 disagree with this criticism we need only 

 remind them of the prime cost of, and export 

 taxes on, wild Para rubber, per lb., and ask 

 them to compare same with the cost of produc- 

 tion, even now, on Eastern estates, and the taxes 

 at present imposed on plantation rubber. — 

 Inaia-Rubber uonrnal, Nov. 30. 



RUBBER AREA IN CEYLON, 



Nov. 26th 



Deak Sir, — It is rather a big- "order" to 

 take off well-nigh 30 per cent of the rubber 

 area as not likely to mature. The wish must 

 be father to the thought. No doubt a good deal 

 will fail especially in the drier districts, of Para 

 — for Para is a moisture-loving tree if ever 

 there was one. But I do not think that more 

 than 20,000 acres are required to cover all 

 losses, though, of course, that certain climates 

 and districts will favour "latex" has yet to be 

 proved. Fortunate are all the men who have 

 already proved their fields and, therefore, know 

 they are in for a good thing. — Yours, 



PLANTER. 



THE PARA REGION OF BRAZIL. 



INTERESTING INFORMATION. 



Some time back in the Session of 1906,* the 

 General European Member asked in the Legis- 

 lative Council that the Government should 

 request the Colonial Office to move the Foreign 

 Office to invite special reports from Consular 

 Agents in rubber growing countries, in view of 

 the growing importance of the Industry in 

 British Eastern Colonies. The request was 

 complied with, and not a few reports in regard 

 to East and West Africa, Central America and 

 Mexico and South America have been the out- 

 come from time to time. Perhaps, the most 

 interesting Consular Report, however, that has 

 reached our hands is "A Report for the year 

 1907 and previous years on the Trade of the 

 Consular District of Para, edited at the Foreign 

 Office and Board of Trade," and presented to 

 Parliament in September, 1908. We have read 

 nothing which has given so vivid a picture of 

 the conditions of the Rubber-gathering industry, 

 and all that depends upon it, in the Amazonian 

 and adjacent districts ; while there is also a 

 good deal of information in respect of cacao, 

 Brazil nuts and other exports. We are told 

 at the outset that the unit of Brazilian cur- 

 rency is the paper milreis generally reckoned 

 at Is 3d ; the gold milreis at par being 2s 3d. 

 A conto of reis "often used in Brazilian reckon- 

 ing is 1,000 milreis," The language of the 

 district as of all Brazil is Portuguese, and no 

 other language is used in business matters or 

 daily intercourse. "Documents in English are 

 of little or no use." " A knowledge of Portu- 

 guese is essential for the conduct of all business 

 matters." Next come some technical paragraphs 

 which may bo useful for reference and are, 

 therefore, given verbatim : — 



Indiarubber, although invoiced by weight in 

 kilos, and so always appearing on official tables 

 of export, is actually made up and shipped in 

 wooden cases, each case containing a quantity 

 dependent in weight on the quality of its contents. 



* The Hon. the General EuropeanMember— 

 asked:— If Government is inclined to move the 

 Secretary of State for the Colonies to induce the 

 Foreign Office authorities to urge British Con- 

 sular Agents, stationed in foreign rubber-grow- 

 ing countries— namely, Brazil, Mexico and other 

 Central and South American States, as well as 

 in the Congo State, German, French and Portu- 

 guese West and East Africa, and in Java and the 

 Philippines— to endeavour during the present 

 year to obtain as full information as is possible, re- 

 specting the local position of the Rubber ind ustry 

 how far cultivation has extended and how far the 

 export of rubber from cultivated trees contrasts 

 with that of wild rubber, and what are the pro- 

 spects of a continued supply of raw rubber. 



The Hon. the Lieut. -Governor:— Government 

 has no objection to asking for the information 

 which the Hon. Member desires to have. 



