1 20 
ticable. To attempt anything less than this would be to court 
disaster as the amount of dirt and moisture could never be regulated 
in parcels o! different origin. I his is not the onlv reason why it 
would be adv isable to prepare a rubber as pure as possible which 
an analysis would give say Rubber 98% and Resin 2%. To do 
this the freshly coagulated latex would have to be washed on a 
" rubber washing machine ” and upon arrival could go straight into 
manufacture, i.e., on to the mixing machines. Let us approximately 
see what the extra value would be on this product as compared 
with Fine Para” (n\ 4s. 6d. This price of 4s. 6d , is for a product 
which loses 5 % in washing and then only contains 94% of rubber, 
and to bring it to this state of so-called purity, it has to be softened, 
washed and dried representing say seven days' work at a cost of 
about 6 d. per lb. A simple calculation would bring a properly pre- 
pared rubber, as suggested above, up to a value of about 6s. Re- 
sides this there is of course the saving in freight to be taken into 
consideration which would be as much as 19%. 
Will the manufacturers give us a proportionate advance tor our 
ultra-fine material ? Undoubtedly to start with they would not: 
firstly it would be something quite new and untested, and secondly 
there would not be sufficient quantities coining forward at first. It 
is equally certain that this anomaly would not last long and that 
alter a time our produce would commend itself and once and for 
all disassociate itsdf from the jungle product, which could only 
be to our advantage. 
Would washing the rubber add materially to its cost of prepara- 
tion ? I do not think it would; washing does not require much 
labour and the greater ease with which “washed sheeted rubber" 
can be dried would compensate us for the cost of the machine and 
labour. As a matter of fact it is almost impossible to dry biscuits 
unless very thin, as the outside hermetically seals them up making 
it impossible to dry the inside. 
It is of course obvious that with dry rubber there can absolutely 
he no question of loss of weight in Europe. 
Rubber prepared scientifically is capable of being kept lor a con- 
siderable period without deterioration which at times may be most 
useful on a bad market. 
1 could enumerate many other points but neither space nor time 
ure further at my disposal Whatever one’s opinions may be this is 
certainly a matter for discussion, it being of great importance to 
planters and I would suggest that, at the forthcoming Agricultural 
Show to be held in Kwaia Lumpur next July, a meeting should be 
called of those interested in the production of crude rubber to 
thoroughly thrash this matter out as it, is one of vital consequence 
to the future of the rubber industry in this country. 
Before concluding I would like to make it quite clear that my 
suggestion as to Uniformity in the preparation of rubber only refers 
Lethe treatment and has nothing whatsoever to do with its disposal. 
F. PEARS. 
