Dec. 1096.] 



453 



Saps and Exudations. 



Mr. Bambeb :— I think the amount of caoutchouc at present is practically 

 permanent, but the amount of water in the latex has largely increased as you see 

 in the wound response. 



H. E. the Governor :— That leaves the amount of caoutchouc constant, 

 Mr. Bamber, :— If we started some years ago with 32 per cent, of caoutchouc, 

 and we now haA r e 10, 15 or 20 per cent., what is it going to be in a few years ? Are 

 the trees going to keep on increasing the amount of latex so as to keep a constant 

 quantity of caoutchouc ? 



H. E. the Governor :— Yes, that is the question. 



THE ACREAGE UNDER RUBBER. 



Mr. James Ryan:— I wish to say a few words on this question of acreage. 

 There are two difficulties with which we have to contend. One is the possibility of 

 overproduction, but the greatest danger in front of us is that all this rubber will not 

 come in gradually. The planting has been done so rapidly that we will hurl on to 

 the world very possibly in the space of three years— which three years, I take it, will 

 be from 1910 to 1913 — we shall hurl on the market this enormous quantity of culti- 

 vated rubber, which I estimate will be quite double the present production in threel 

 years. The world cannot instantly absorb such a quantity without a severe disloca- 

 tion of price. We have seen it in the case of our tea and in the over production of 

 cinchona. 1 remember in one year alone Ceylon exported, without any warning — 

 or with only such warning as we are giving here to-day — four times the world's con- 

 sumption. What was the result ? Quinine received such a blow as it has never 

 practically recovered from. We knocked the retail price of quinine down from a 

 guinea or 21s. to a shilling. The wholesale price touched as low as 8 d. Bark 

 became practically valueless. In tea the moment we exceeded the world's demand 

 by 10 per cent, we knocked down the world's price by 25 per cent. I have talked 

 with political economists on the matter, and they tell us the ratio is incremental, and 

 we must bear this in mind and take time by the forelock and introduce our rubber 

 into fresh markets before the crash comes. I have gone very carefully into these 

 figures with Mr. Herbert Wright, and I think his figures are rather an understate- 

 ment than an overstatement of the dangers we have to face. I may say that the in- 

 formation he has given to me is that for the 1,2000,000 acres at the rate of a ton to 20 

 acres, which is necessary to produce 60,000 tons of rubber, the land is already planted 

 and within five or six years from this date it will produce rather more than less the 

 amount of rubber Mr, Wright gave us to-day. It, therefore, behoves us all to use our 

 commercial prescience and without being optimistic or pessimistic approach it with 

 the eye of ameliorists and face our enemies and be ready to meet them well prepared 

 (Applause.) 



DR. WILLIS ON BLOCK RUBBER. 



Dr. Willis, illustrating his remarks with a large block of fine hand cured 

 Para exhibited in the show, said he would like to call attention to the block of Para 

 rubber in the show, as it came from the Amazon. When it was cut, it was quite 

 white through the centre. It was rapidly blackening now. It would be seen that 

 the rubber was quite damp. That, as it stood, was exactly like a Ceylon biscuit 

 freshly taken out of the roller. There was no dry rubber in that block like the 

 biscuits they sent home. If they rubbed their finger on this rubber and smelled it, 

 they would readily recognise the smell of creosote, and it seemed to him a question 

 worthy of consideration whether they ought not to try the effect of blocking their 

 rubber. If he might hark back, they made biscuits first in their department in 1899. 

 The methods used then were those used now. They prepared the rubber with acid 

 which nearly everyone used now, and they also put in a small proportion of creosote, 

 The creosote did not mix with the latex, but it was quite possible to do it. If they 



