40 T 
dried before being packed. This copra has fallen from its hrst 
position and is now very inferior, being no better, if as good, as 
1 Some ^samples of copra from Penang and Kelantan have given 
good results but, as mentioned above, all depends on the percen - 
age of unripe copra in the parcel, and where you may get one ship- 
ment with say 5% of unripe in it, the next lot from the same place 
and dealer may have 50% , , „ i c 
Occasionally a small parcel will arrive from the Nicobar Islands. 
This copra is evidently made from a nut much smaller than t 
usually seen in Singapore, the kernel is very thick and rich in o . 
Our Chinese dealer says it is made from the “ Klapa Raja. 
Ceylon copra is also noted for its richness in oik yielding about 
■X% more oil than the Straits article. 
\ ours faithfully, 
(Signed) Manager, 
The Singapore Oil Mills. 
Public Auctions.— Beyond a definite settlement with Messrs. 
Barlow & Co. of the lines upon which public auctions are o 
worked as soon as that firm judge that the time has arrived for a 
start to be made, nothing in this connection has been done and all 
coffee, during the season under review, has been chsp > - Y 
private sale. A recent letter from Messrs. Barlow & Co., sums up 
the situation “We are practically ready to f ar ' 
but we have hesitated to experiment on an already unsatisfac 
market If your Committee instruct us to make a beginning 
will be glad to follow their instructions. Supplies are now fading 
oft, and it might be well to give the sales by auction a trial in the 
quiet months of this year. We would suggest giving a month s 
notice of the first sale, accumulating the arrivals for three vvee^ 
and issuing the catalogue a week before the sale. 
mittee do not advocate that the Association sh °^ k Cf t t0 use 
steps, but consider that Messrs. Barlow & Co. should be iefttouse 
their own discretion as to the best opportunity for giving sales by 
^Rubber'In MF.xiCO.-0n the 24th October your Chairman ad- 
dressed a letter to H. R. M. Consul, Mexico City D. F- Mex.co 
asking for further information regarding the wild rubber . t 
Mexico and any cultivated varieties m that republic b 
reply has been received although your chairman s etter was the 
outcome of a communication from the C onsul to the Singapore 
Chamber of Commerce. H t 1 r; tt t 
Rhea FlBRE.-The cultivation ol this product ha. > attracted Mitt e 
or no attention during the past year, owing mainly to the uncertain 
market for ribbons. Upon information received from Sir I . ABE'-, 
S rector of the Imperial Institute, to the effect that a .firm . rf high 
standing in London were prepared, for several years, to come to 
purchase Rhea ribbons at £15 per ton, the f £ 
ion in the different Gazettes, gave wide publication to this otter. 
When a member of your Association however interviewed the hrm 
t/a3JU 
