Nov. 1906. J 



863 



SeCps and Exudations. 



it immediately bounced right out of the window. If they were going to have 

 their packages leaping and bounding all over the docks, there might be some 

 disadvantage. (Laughter.) He did not know in what way it was handled at the 

 docks or anywhere else, but it struck him with this kind of package there might 

 be disadvantages. 



THE DOCK LABOURER AND RUBBEK . 



Mr. Smithett : — What Dr. Willis has just said about rubber bumping is 

 frequently true, and I think planters have to remember that the average dock 

 labourer in London does not caie a brass rap what happens to the package he is 

 dealing with. What he chiefly thinks about is of being able to get off to his dinner 

 as soon as possible, or something of that kind. I think that considering the great 

 amount which we hope in the near future you will be able to send to the market, 

 it will not be worth while, as Mr. Ryan has said, spoiling the ship for the sake 

 of a ha'p' worth of tar. I do not know the actual cost of the half-inch tea chest, 

 but considering that you can get half a cwt. of rubber into one, I don't think it will 

 be so great as to detract much from -the cost of the rubber. In regard to packing 

 in bales, as Mr. Devitt has said, the fibre inside the packing is very liable to attach 

 itself to the rubber. I have seen several consignments of crfipe sent home in 

 sacks of that, and it was very noticeable that the whole of the outside of the crepe 

 was covered with small fibre from the inside of the sack. Regarding the Venesta 

 tea chests, I saw some rubber sent home the other day in an ordinary Venesta. 

 I think they are now building a Venesta chest especially for rubber — and they 

 succeeded in getting in a 100 lb. tea chest 248 lb. of sheet rubber. This had con- 

 tracted and was in a large lump, so that you can imagine how with every movement 

 this 248 lb. of rubber bumped against the sides with the result that we had a 

 large proportion manifested as broken before shipment. I think that the ordinary 

 tea chest is the best Ceylon can do at present. 



Mr. Devitt : — It is very desirable that you should get uniformity as to 

 the size and weight as far as possible. From the Amazon they have the standard 

 size of 32 cases to the five tons. As the quantity exported gets larger it would be 

 advisable to fix upon standards of weight. 



THE SEPARATING OF STRONG AND WEAK RUBBER. 



Mr. Bamber :— I should like to call attention to one point. Mr. Devitt 

 referred to keeping the stronger from the weaker rubber when packing, but 

 personally I do not think that is the time when you want to keep them separate. 

 I think myself the latex from young trees, as they come into bearing, ought to 

 be kept separate and coagulated separately and the biscuits made from the different 

 latices kept separate. I have seen cases where a few young trees have been tapped 

 and rendered a considerable amount of rubber from older trees weaker, and it 

 seems a pity to spoil a good thing in that way when you can keep the latices 

 separate. 



Mr. Ryan :— I entirely differ from Mr. Bamber. If you have enough to 

 separate, by all means separate ; but if you have small supplies, it would pay much 

 better to bulk the latex, and I think you will find that the little good rubber will 

 leaven 'the lump. I am not talking from the point of theory, but from practice. 

 It is better to have uniform samples from estates than to have little driblets coming 

 in that will vary a few pence per lb. in price. You will find you get more for 

 your rubber, and you will keep your superintendent from the verge of delirium 

 tremens. (Laughter.) You must have uniformity, and bulking the latex is the 

 way to secure it. It is interesting for Mr. Bamber to separate latices and measure 

 them by cubic centimetres and find out the specific gravities, but the average 

 superintendent has to take the stuff the coolies bring him, and if he starts sampling 

 and separating and fiddling about, that way madness lies. 



