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MANUFACTURERS OPINIONS ON SHEET 
RUBBER PREPARED BY PLANTERS. 
An interesting series of opinions of- managers of well-known 
rubber firms as the advisability of planters sending their 
rubber to market in the form of thoroughly washed and dried 
sheets is published in the “ India-rubber Journal ” of March 13, 
p- 296, by the Editor of the “ International Rubber Planter's 
Association .” 
Mr. P. M. Matthew, of the Victoria Rubber Company, 
Limited, writes: “ I have before me at the present time a sample 
of Plantation rubber of which some 60 tons have passed through 
the Liverpool market during the past year. The last of this 
was sold at about 6s. 2 d. per lb., which is probably a record price 
for raw rubber. The best of this rubber has been imported in 
sheets averaging about T 3 g-inch in thickness, and this, I consider, 
is the best possible form in which it can be imported. So far as 
I am aware, there is no reason why the latex should not be 
coagulated in this form in troughs or vessels of convenient shape 
and size, and such a plant could be installed at a comparatively 
trifling cost. The subsequent drying of the rubber is a simple 
matter, and can be, of course, carried out in v arious ways as may 
be most convenient. As regards the suggestion that the rubber 
could be more conveniently prepared and exported in washed 
sheets, that is no doubt the case, and, from the manufacturer’s 
point of view, it could not be in any more suitable form. The 
present conditions of the rubber market, however, render it 
necessary that the greater part of the rubber imported should 
pass through the hands of dealers and brokers, and, that being so, 
no manufacturer would buy the rubber in the form of washed 
sheets, for the simple reason that it would be impossible for him 
to tell whether it was adulterated by admixture of inferior rubber 
or not. From the point of view of the planter? I consider it of 
the first importance that the rubber could be easily identified, 
which w’ould not be the case were it shipped in the ordinary form 
of washed rubber. It is not too much to say that such treatment 
would probably reduce the present market value by at least 25 
per cent. I do not think it would be practicable to mark the 
product of the various plantations as has been suggested.” 
Chas. Macintosh & Co., Limited, say: “ There is no doubt 
that it would be greatly to the advantage of the India-rubber 
manufacturer if he could buy his raw rubber clean and dry. 
Under the very best modern system of collection and preparation, 
rubber comes to market cleaner and dryer than has ever been 
known before, but still the manufacture has to put it through 
his washing rollers and stoves to eliminate any foreign matter 
that may have collected on the surface of the cakes or biscuits, 
even if there is none inside the rubber itself. The important 
matter for the planter to consider is, how can he collect and 
