Nov. 1906.] 



871 



Saps and Exudations. 



Mr. James Ryan :— That does not alter the tact. Mr. Brett tells me that 

 20 per cent is lost in Para rubber by impurities. If I buy one thousand lb. of Para 

 rubber, taking 20 per cent as the net impurities— he says 15 to 20 per cent — he gets 

 800 lb. of pure rubber and pays (56,000 pence for it ; but if he buys 1,000 lb. of Ceylon 

 plantation rubber, 960 lb. is pure rubber; the deduction is under 4 per cent, but he only 

 pays 69,000 pence or an increase of 8,120 for another 160 lb. of rubber — (Laughter).— 

 Which means that he gets 160 lb. of Ceylon rubber at the rate of 2d. a lb. (Laughter.) 



Mr. Spencer Brett :— I would add to my previous remarks by saying there 

 are many other considerations. I pointed out the ones I thought the most 

 important but, of course, one consideration is the point that has been very widely 

 questioned indeed, and upon that no one yet can definitely give a verdict, namely, 

 whether by the nature of the plantation rubber it will be able at any time to 

 supplant and actually take the place of fine hard South American Para rubber. 

 I myself am very hopeful indeed about this, and this Exhibition has greatly 

 increased my hopefulness ; but at the same time it is quite impossible at this 

 stage of the industry to get the manufacturers to adopt all those views, and as I 

 have already tried to explain the manufacturers go by results, and until they 

 definitely get these results they will not be prepared to pay a high premium for a 

 grade that they do not fully understand. On the other hand, it is being experi- 

 mented with all this time, and I think there is not the slightest doubt that once it 

 comes into consumption on a large scale, and is found after severe tests extending 

 over a length of time, I am sure that many manufacturers will handle it instead of 

 fine hard Para. At that time, I am equally convinced, you people will get the full 

 advantage of the superiority of your product. (Applause.) 



experiments in preparation methods. 



Dr. Willis : — Now is the time when we ought to make our experiments in 

 the preparation of rubber for the market. As Messrs. Smithett and Brett have told 

 us, the market is in a fluid condition and we can now try experiments with more 

 chance of success. Supposing we go on making biscuits for another couple of years 

 without trying any other method, biscuits will be on the market in very large 

 quantities, and the market will be so wedded to the biscuit that the manufacturers 

 would begin to look very much askance at any other form of rubber. Now we only 

 make small quantities, but it is time to try experiments of making up rubber in a 

 different kind of way, and we ought to do that. I say this because there are a num- 

 ber of people who say that the time for experimenting is too soon. We know 

 biscuit Avill work ; let us stick to biscuit and let other things be tried later on. 

 The present is the time to try them before the market gets thoroughly wedded to 

 biscuit, sheet or block, whatever it may be. There are so many other forms in 

 which rubber can be placed upon the market, that now is the time to try those forms 

 before the market gets fixed. (Applause.) It seems to me that the subject is of very 

 great importance ; and as we have heard a good deal about it from the brokers' point 

 of view, we should like to hear the planting side of it put forward by some gentle- 

 man present, who will have a perfect right to do so. 



CREPE RUBBER. 



Mr. Herbert Wright:— Mr. Smithett brought forward the question of 

 sending crepe rubber to the London manufacturers, and he pointed out the disadvan- 

 tage that a certain amount of material was necessarily lost, but he apparently 

 forgot to remind us that ci epe rubber, as Mr. Smithett convinced me yesterday, is 

 the only form in which rubber can be guaranteed to arrive free from mould or from 

 tackiness. I understood, from conversation with the Judges yesterday, that during 

 the last few months there has been a large increase in the quantity of biscuit, and 

 even sheet rubber, which has arrived in a mouldy or tacky condition, and the 

 appearance of the crepe during the same period was free from such defects. 



