Gums, Resins, 



452 



[Dec. 1906. 



was important that they should go into the matter more deeply than they had done 

 up to date. What he went upon in one respect was the Funtumia rubber in Africa- 

 He had coagulated this rubber by evaporation and sent it home, and that rubber is 

 as good to-day as ever it was— as good as fine hard Para. It seemed to him that one 

 point in the Brazilian method of evaporation was that antiseptic was used in the 

 smoke, and here no antiseptic whatever was used, and the consequence was that we 

 got tacky rubber, &c It was possible that if an antiseptic were used, we could go on 

 with tiie present method instead of the evaporation method. It was a difficult and 

 intricate subject and one of great interest, and he was sure it was a very important 

 one. There was a good deal of rubber turned out in Africa, but he did not 

 think it would make any difference in the market for some years to come. He would 

 like to mention in regard to Funtumia rubber that it was peculiar in this way, that 

 it did not grow here and there as rubber in Brazil, but it grew in patches, and it was 

 quite possible, as he knew himself, to find it growing in certain parts 200 or 300 trees 

 in the acre ; where trees grew in aggregations and batches, and in very large 

 quantities, it is merely a matter of opening these patches containing grown trees, 

 and there having ready-made plantations. 



Mr. Wright :— Regarding the point of the difference between rubber pre. 

 paration in the Amazon and our district ; in the wild districts the water, proteid and 

 resinous matter is included and autiseptic added. Inthe plantation we try to remove 

 part of the water, the'proteid matter and the resinous and do not even add antiseptic. 



Mr. Bajiber :— Perhaps Ave remove a little too much from the rubber. If 

 other rubbers contain all this proteid and resinous matter and give better results, I 

 do not see what we gain by removing two or three per cent, of resin and proteid 

 matter, and at the same time lose in weight. We certainly want absolute purity in 

 the factory. I think a rubber factory ought to be kept as sterile as the best dairy, 

 because I have seen how tackiness can start from inoculation. I have been able to 

 inoculate a good biscuit from a tacky biscuit after sterilisation, and there is no doubt 

 that bad and weak rubber is often due to inoculation. This can be prevented by 

 having everything in a sterilised condition. Often layer of proteid and 



sugar matter left around the buckets, and there is nothing that will encourage the 

 growth of bacteria like this. I think that every precaution ought to be taken to see 

 that the implements or utensils used for collection or manufacture should be practi- 

 cally sterile. 



CAOUTCHOUC IN PURR LATEX. 



H. E. THE Governor (to Mr Wright ) :— Your assumption of the amount of 

 land that will produce a given number of tons of rubber was based, I presume, upon 

 the amount of caoutchouc that has been extracted in the latex up to the present 

 Assuming as a fact what we have heard— that apparently with an increased flow of 

 latex you may have a decreased amount of caoutchouc,— of course, it would affect 

 your estimate as far as the amount of land necessary to produce a certain amount 

 of caoutchouc is concerned. 



Mr. Wright :— My estimate was f lb. plantation rubber per tree per year, not 

 so much latex. The rubber itself is the dried product. We may collect varying 

 quantities of latex according to the climate and other conditions, but this does not 

 affect the yield of dry rubber to w hich I refer. 



II. E. The Governor :— Am I to understand from Mr. Bamber that in certain 

 trees you have tapped, we will say last year or the year before, a certain amount 

 Of caoutchouc has been found in the latex ? This year, in extracting from that tree, 

 a smaller proportion is found in the latex. Are we to assume that the quantity of 

 latex is increased, but the amount of caoutchouc is constant ?— or are we to assume 

 that the amount of caoutchouc from the tree is less in the later tapping than it was 

 in the original tapping ? 



