vAv 
437 
SMOKED RUBBER. 
We have the pleasure of presenting the following report on some 
Para rubber smoked on spindles in the Botanic Gardens and sent to 
Messrs. Gow-Wilson and Stanton for examination and report. It will 
be noticed that the report is not made by a broker, but by a manufac- 
turer who has treated it from a manufacturer’s point of view, the only 
view that is really valuable. 
For some time we have been working and experimenting with 
various methods of smoking latex with a view of making Plantation 
rubber if possible as closely resembling Fine Hard Cure Para of the 
Amazons as could be. 
Fine Hard is considered the best class of rubber in the world, and 
very superior to ordinary Plantation rubber in tensile strength and 
power of recovery, but at the same time as ordinarily sent to market 
is less clear than Plantation rubber, which was why it often fetched a 
lower price. 
To make them a rubber which possessed all the best qualities of 
Fine Hard cure and the purity of Plantation was the object of this 
series of experiments. From time to time the reports of the examina- 
tion of these samples prepared in this way have been published in the 
Bulletin and in the last annual report, but some of these reports did 
not satisfy the experimenters. However, it appeared clear we were on 
the right track and the work was carried on, and the present report 
now submitted to our readers is a most encouraging one, and shows 
that we are within a measurable distance of making a very superior 
class of Rubber equal to Hard fine Para, but cleaner. 
Further experiments are in progress and we hope soon to be able 
to show that Plantation rubber by proper treatment of the latex can 
be made equal if not superior in every respect to the finest rubber 
produced in the Amazons. 
Further, we do not think that the method employed will prove to 
be any more expensive than the ordinary making of sheet or crepe 
but on the contrary may possibly be made even cheaper. 
H. N. Ridley, Esq., 
Director, Botanic Gardens, 
Singapore, S. S. 
Dear Sir, 
We are in receipt of your favour of the 30th June, and have just 
heard from Messrs. Beck and Pollitzer that the 10 cases Rubber refer- 
red to by you have duly arrived. We hope to forward you full report 
on the condition and quality of these samples shortly. 
Meanwhile, we have received from the manufacturer who had 
undertaken the experiment with the previous sample of Smoked Para 
cured on the (lines of Hard Fine Para which you had sent us, his 
J report on the subject, and enclose herewith extract from same. 
