357 



GUMS, RESINS, SAPS AND EXUDATIONS. 



Plantation Rubber and the Home Trade. 



Extracts from Mr. Burgess's Report. 



The report by Mr. P- J. Burgess, former Straits Government Analyst, 

 on his investigations in Great Britain last year into the India-rubber industry 

 in relation to the growth and preparation of raw rubber in the Malay Peninsula, 

 has lately appeared. Crepe Rubber had just appeared in the London market 

 when Mr. Burgess was in England, and he describes how he interested the trade 

 in the new form of plantation rubber and what happened at its first a ppearance 

 at a public sale, conducted at Messrs. Figgis' sale-rooms on the 12th May, 1905. 



" Much interest in the crepe rubber had been shown by the buyers, but 

 the majority of the opinions openly expressed were adverse and critical, since 

 the samples were of a kind new to the buyers. When the first lot of the crepe 

 was put up, there arose from the head of the room a cry of " We don't want 

 washed rubber ; we want to wash our own," which plainly showed the nature 

 of the opposition. However, in spite of this open disapproval on the part of 

 some, the rubber sold at 6/8 and 6/8J per lb., which was ld.-lid. above the price 

 on the same day, and in the same sale, of fine plantation "biscuits," clean and 

 dry, and with which no fault could be found. 



" The cause of this action on the part of the buyers was not easy to 

 determine. No pretence was made that the rubber after washing was injured 

 or made inferior to "biscuit," or that it would be less readily accepted by 

 users of plantation rubber, and no explanation other than the statement that 

 washed rubber was not wanted could be obtained from the objectors themselves. 

 An explanation of the disapproval which seems reasonable, supplying as it does 

 a personal motive, was obtained later from indirect sources. Raw rubber is 

 not bought direct by the manufacturers at auction, but from the "buyers." 

 The latter buy in bulk and divide their purchases into lots of different qualities 

 (usually into three) and sell this regraded rubber at different rates, making a 

 substantial profit on this transaction. A rubber of standard quality, uniform, 

 clean, and pure, such as crepe or plantation-washed rubber, offers no opportunity 

 for this sorting and grading process, and the profit derived from dealing in it 

 woidd be less. A further possible explanation is that with a pure rubber of 

 uniform quality an opportunity for direct buying on the part of the users of the 

 material would be afforded. 



GREAT EXPECTATIONS OF EASTERN PLANTATION RUBBER. 



" By all the manufacturers a very keen and lively interest is shown in 

 plantation rubber and in the prospect of being able to obtain rubber of fine 

 quality from the East. The immediate need is for quantity, and exaggerated 

 views of the amount that is to be expected in the near future from plantations 

 were prevalent. No inclination to deal directly with the producer in small lots 

 of a few tons was shown by any of the larger manufacturers, the difficulty 

 being that the supply would be too small and irregular to justify any departure 

 from methods of buying already in practice, and added to this is the fact that 

 plantation rubber is of a different quality and grade from any other in the 

 market, and it requires treatment different in detail in practical working ; that 

 the rubber should be clean, dry, and free from mechanical impurity is essential, 

 and in these respects plantation rubber has already gained a considerable 



