198 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Mar., 1899. 
; The supply of rubber, then, may be looked upon as inexhaustible, a 
prices, although they may fluctuate somewhat, will probably hold at the prese? 
quotations, which are:—For Para, of various grades, from 63 to 93 cents 
(2s. 7d. to 8s. 10d.) per lb.; for African, 60 cents (2s. 6d.) ; for Assath 
80 cents (3s. 4d.) ; for Borneo, 40 cents (1s. 8d.) ; whilst for guttapercha the 
price is 1 dollar 50 cents (6s. 8d.) ; for medium, 1 dollar 30 cents (5s. 5d.) i 
and for lower sorts, 50 cents (2s. 1d.). 
ese prices are given to show how much more valuable is euttaperch® 
than caoutchoue, or what is usually known as rubber. 
On this subject the Engineer sounds a note of warning as to what must 
be the result of the exhaustion of guttapercha in connection with the inte! 
national network of submarine telegraphs, which has become such an importa 
factor in political and commercial activity, that one can scarcely realise th® 
consequences which would result if this system were to be thrown out of ge 
or destroyed. Nevertheless, if we are to believe certain prophets, whos? 
pessimistic views are only too strongly supported by evidence, the world ® 
threatened with the loss of the submarine cables. A writer in the Revue es 
Deus Mondes (M. Lazare Weiller), who is competent to speak on the subject 
utters somewhat timidly the first note of alarm. He has been followed by ¥ 
Adolph Combanaire, another specialist of higher standing, who has exposed 1” 
the Hlectricien the danger that threatens submarine cables. According to this 
writer, the days of these cables are numbered. In ten years, or perbap* 
sooner, an irreparable breach will occur in this endless network which runs 
round the globe, and the electric messages will then be discharged into the 
depths of the ocean, where they will remain. A mere detail will have suffice 
to disorganise the working of the system, and to paralyse the telegraphic inte 
course of the world. ‘his detail, which at present seems to trouble nobody ® 
the exhaustion of guttapercha. This substance has been discovered near, 
sixty years. Contrary to ordinary caoutchouc, it has the curious property ° 
ecoming soft in boiling water, and is thus capable of being very eas! 
moulded into any shape; then, under the influence of cold, it assumes mi 
extreme hardness. Ever since the first cable was laid between Dover a 
Calais, on 13th November, 1851, the use of guttapercha has been an absolute 
necessity. In vain have skilled scientists made experiments with a view % 
substituting other materials of a similar nature in place of guttapercha. These 
efforts proved to be fruitless, and the attempt was finally abandoned. “® 
difficulty was further increased by the fact that not every kind of guttaperet 
was found to be equally useful in protecting submarine cables, and in the &” 
only two kinds, produced exclusively in a district several hundreds of leagt® 
in extent in the neighbourhood of Singapore, were alone made use of. yi 
only in this region, and nowhere else, that the regularity of the climate, the 
constancy of an extreme temperature, marvellous humidity, and the volcat! 
character of the soil, all unite in forming a sort of hothouse, in which + 
plant can produce abundantly, and in a lasting manner, in its tissues thos? 
essential oils on which its properties seem to depend. Other guttas, wh? 
once submerged in water, very quickly begin either to exude gutta or @ 
undergo atomic changes, which processes at once render them useles* 
Although there exist several varieties of trees which produce good gutta, thet 
1s, unfortunately, only one method of gathering it; it is a wasteful method, a 
It consists in cutting down the trees. In fact, contrary to the method adopt? 
in the case of caoutechoue and intermediary gums, simple incisions made in 1 
bark of the percha-tree are not enough. At this rate guttapercha will goo? 
be a thing of the past. When the report got abroad recently that an Americ? 
cable was to be laid across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Tokyo 
way of the Sandwich Islands, and with branches to the Ladrones and Manilla: 
the price of guttapercha rose in a few days from 40 to 50 per cent. 2) 
Combanaire also says that it would be impossible to find in France at th® 
moment 10 tons weight of matured gutta fit to be used in making a submari?? 
cable, Is there no way of remedying the gravity of the situation? Until ® 
