Deo. 1906.] 



471 



.Saps and Exudations. 



RUBBER CULTIVATION IN COLOMBIA. 



The following letter is inserted as being of present interest, showing how 

 widely this cultivation is being taken up :— 



Bogota, August 31st, 1906, 



To Sir Edward Grey, Bart., m.p. 



Sir,— Since writing my despatch No. 41 of this series of June 28th last on the 

 subject of the Rubber industry in this country, I have ascertained that some 80,000 

 plants of the Mauihot Glaziowii (Ceara) species have been planted on an estate some 

 three days' journey from this capital, and are now from six months to four years 

 old. The owner informs me that he hopes to tap from ten to fifteeu thousand 

 trees this year, and that a sample which was recently sent to England was classed 

 as high as the best Para. He further informed me that in various parts of Colombia 

 the climate and soil appeared to be very suitable for rubber cultivation, but 

 he was the only person who had yet tried it. The prospects of the industry were, 

 he said, mainly dependent on the London prices, which, however, seemed likely to 

 be remunerative for some time to come. This remark was no doubt induced by the 

 wide-spread ruin caused in this country by the fall in the coffee market some few 

 years ago. 



I have since found that my informant was mistaken in believing that he is 

 the only grower of rubber in Colombia, for the manager of another estate informs 

 me that he is making experiments with Ceylon seed and has obtained promising 

 results. I have heard, too, that there are planted rubber trees of six years' growth 

 on an estate owned by a Frenchman near the Venezuelan frontier, a fortnight or 

 three weeks' journey from here. 



I should add that rumours have reached me of attempts to float companies 

 for the cultivation of rubber somewhere in the vast department of the Cauca 

 bordering the Pacific. It is possible that some particulars might be obtainable in 

 London respecting these schemes if they really exist. 



I have, etc., 

 (Signed) FRANCIS STRONGE. 



LONDON RUBBER MARKET. 



London, October 12th. — At to-day's auction, 407 packages of Ceylon and 

 Straits Settlements plantation-grown rubber were under offer, of which about 232 

 were sold. The total weight amounted to about 23 tons, Ceylon contributing about 

 5| and Straits Settlements nearly 17|. There was a good market for all descriptions 

 and competition was fairly general, though in a few cases sellers' ideas were not 

 quite realised. Fine plantation showed little change in price, although bidding was 

 hardly as brisk. A fine parcel of crepe from the Bukit Rajah Estate realised up to 

 5s. 8d. per lb. Best sheet and biscuits sold at from 5s. 6d. to 5s. 7Jd., whilst good 

 scrap generally made very firm prices. Plantation fine to-day.— 5s. 6d. to 5s. 7£d. 

 same period last year, 6s, 2d.; plantation scrap.— 3s. to 4s. 6|d., same period last 

 year, 3s, lOd. to 5s. ljd. Fine hard Para (South American;.— 5s. l|d., same period last 

 year, 5s. 5d. Average price of Ceylon and Straits Settlements plantation rubber, — 

 232 packages at 5s. ljd, per lb,, against 259 packages at 5s, 5£d. per lb, at last 

 auction. Particulars and prices as follows : — 



CEYLON. 



MARK QUANTITY, DESCRIPTION AND PRICE PER LB. 



Doranakande 5 cases good darkish biscuits, 5s. 7d.; 7 cases good palish to 



darkish scrap, 4s. 5fd. ; 3 cases black scrap, 4s. 2d, 



