186 
against 3,428 tons at the beginning of January 1910. In the following 
table we show where these supplies are drawn from : 
WORLD’S OUTPUT. 
Year 

Brazil Para 
Receipts 
' 
West Africa 
East Indies 
Other sources 
Total. 
Tons. 
Tons. 
Tons. 
Tons. 
Tons. 
1906 
34480 
17400 
530 
13,800 
65,000 
1907 
37,665 
17,000 
1,100 
13435 
69,000 
1908 
38,190 
■ | 
14,000 
2,000 
10,810 
65,000 
1909 
39,040 
15,500 
4,000 
11,460 
70,000* 
* Estimated 
The Brazilian supplies do not show a rapid increase, owing the 
arduous, costly, and haphazard manner in which collection is underta- 
ken, although the supply of wild rubber is said to be practically 
^ inexhaustible, while the cost of production is becoming greater, as 
"the collectors have year by year to penetrate deeper into the forests 
to secure supplies. This anxiety to get rubber has in its turn led to 
the neglect of ipecacuanha collection and cultivation in the Provinces 
of Matto Grosso and Minas respectively, and it may also affect 
cultivation in the Selangor State, from whence our supplies of 
so-called “Johore” ipecacuanha are drawn. On the other hand, it 
will be seen from the table that the rubber output from Ceylon, 
Malaya and other East Indian Centres has practically doubled every 
year,- but so far their contribution is a mere drop in the bucket as 
compared with the world’s total, and it will probably be five to ten 
years before the proportion becomes considerable. In years to come, 
it is said, the battle will be between wild and plantation rubber, in 
regard to the respective merits of which a great diversity of opinion 
prevails. The chief fact at present is that wild rubber does control 
the market of the world, and will continue to do so for some years 
yet. Planters are eager to find out which form of rubber manufactu- 
rers like best - whether in sheets, biscuits, crepe, block, worms, 
etc - but manufacturers themselves express no decided opinion on 
the point. At present plantation rubber is inferior to pure Para, and 
the cause has not yet been determined, though manv beliefs are 
expressed, 
As regards prices, it is questionable whether the present high 
level is a good thing for the welfare of the industry, it being probable 
that lower and more stable values would prove more beneficial in 
the end. The average price paid for plantation rubber in 1906 was 
