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the general stability of the trade which even the high prices, com- 
bined with increased supply, cannot check. 
I see, Mr. Editor, you are foreshadowing the policy of “starve 
the rubber market.” As a small investor in rubber cultivation I do 
not regret the large extensions that are being made in all quarters 
of the globe which forecast in the not distant future a much more 
healthy tone of trade when prices will fall to a level which will 
enable rubber to be used for the many purposes the present inflated 
prices prohibit, and when all of us from producer to consumer will 
participate in a well paying industry with vast possibilities of 
development, for who is to say where the demand for fair-priced 
rubber is to end. We do not grudge the few lucky ones their 
present large profits to last for ever. 
Yours, etc., 
W. E. G. 
Colombo , June Jth. 
[Note by Ed. Times of Ceylon . — We trust our correspondent is 
right, only exactly the same argument was used in the early days 
of the cinchona era. Eet prices fall to a low level, and demand 
will at once force them up again. But the price fell and the anti- 
cipated demand never came. With rubber this will no doubt be 
different. It can be put to so many valuable purposes, and demand 
for it is certain to increase. We fully believe that. But we incul- 
cate caution that is all. Also we do not quite understand how in 
any market stocks are the result of prices as alleged by the paper 
referred to.] 
RUBBER PROSPECTS. 
London Brokers’ Opinion. 
Messrs. Lewis and Peat, brokers of London, write thus on 
rubber prospects to the Straits Echo under date 26th May: — 
We must point out to planters that to-day’s prices are “famine 
prices” and cannot possibly be maintained when rubber becomes 
more plentiful as it is bound to do, and as the price of Ceylon or 
Straits-grown Para is regulated entirely by the price of “ Fine 
Para” from the Amazon and Islands, the following reminder may be 
useful : — • 
Fine Para to-day is 4/10^. per lb., Ceylon 5/2^. 
„ May, 1903, 3/10 \d. „ 4/3^. 
jj n 1902, 3/" j) >, nil. 
and at one time in 1902, 2/io^d. per lb. 
e So that prices to-day are about 2/- per lb. more than they were 
2 years ago and are about 1 J 6 d. per lb. over the average. From 
these figures you will see how dangerous it would be to base any 
Calculations upon present prices, although owing to the extraordi- 
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