8 
and as the enquiry has increased for same, we do not anticipate a 
further appreciable decline in values, and one ought certainly to* 
advocate the encouragement of a substantial increase in the lm- 
P ° As* regards the .quality of Para rubber, considerable grievance 
was agarn caused by the want of care in the proper selection of 
these grades, especially from the Island districts, and this^ has led 
to numerous disputes amongst contracting parties. Trade in Great 
Britain and with leading Continental Rubber works was fairly good 
and the stocks of raw material at the factories are not large, and 
in spite of the fact that deliveries have been exceptionally heavy, 
the reported consumption of fine Para exceeds that of previous 
years The America market showed the position there not to be 
so strong except for the first few months, but generally speaking 
the Rubber trade has been busy and the only important speculative 
stocks are held by one leading American house, whose position at 
the close of the year was considered very precarious. Visible sup- 
ply now of Para and Peruvian is 4,618 tons against 4,100 tons last 
year. This includes America with a stock 2,005 tons against 1,200 
tons last year. , , 1 _, t . . 
Should the demand for Para rubber continue good, the statistical 
position at the end of 1901 is certainly a very healthy one. The 
total for the years’ crop (from July 1st to December 31st) amounts 
to 13,680 tons; this means an increase of 2,400 tons, while against 
this the total increase of the visible supply gives us only about 480 
tons, thus about 1,920 more tons have gone into consumption, this 
despite the fact that it is well known that the " invisible ” supply 
is exceptionally small. Although grave financial difficulties were 
experienced by' many holders of rubber, the position of the Rubber 
market is fairly sound, and with constantly increasing consumption, 
Rubber must be considered very reasonable at present quotations. 
Para kinds . — At the beginning of the year we had to record a 
brisk enquiry for Para grades, and business on a large scale 
resulted, but owing to continued '‘bear ’ operations, prices exhi- 
bited an important recession, and while Hard Fine Para was 
quoted at the beginning of January at 3/10^, Soft at 3/9, Negro- 
heads Scrappy at 2/9W., Island at 2/1 Id., Cametas at 2/4^., Peru- 
vian Ball at 2/7 \d. and Slab at 2/2 d., prices declined rapidly during 
the latter portion of the first month, and sales for forward delivery 
at a marked decline were done on a large scale, with the result that 
prices for Para grades receded about 3d. per lb. by the end of the 
first three months. In America Fine Para was then sold as low as 
3l6d. t Scrappies 2/65^., Island i/nd., Ball 2/4 d. and Slab 1/11 d. 
per lb. We then began to receive the first advices from Para of 
probable short receipts and some important buyers partly relying 
upon these reports bought large quantities, thereby causing consi- 
derable briskness ; this improvement was actively maintained for 
a few weeks, and as high as 3/1 od. to 3/1 \d. was paid for Fine 
during the middle of April. Other sorts were 2d. to 3 d. per lb. 
dearer. Soon afterwards however, the market again showed signs 
of weakness, the demand being somewhat dragging, and in July 
