Wild Rubber and Wild Companies.
Page 7
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The Natural Resources of Brazil.
This journal does mit lay claim to authority on rubber production or manipulation, but the interests which are entrusted to it, call for a close observation of all movements which mayaffect the price of tires. Our short " leaderette " (of three weeks ago has been widely enoted, both by financial editors and chairmen of rubber-growing companies; the latter, of course, do not like our statement that the market is being in part " rigged " for the benefit of promoters and outside speculuttors. We repeat that view, a trl not without access to good sources oi information. More than half of the companies which have been floated this year, and a larger proportion of those
The Brazilian fields, five years ago, were the principal sources of supply, but the East had already seen its little local boom. Some 10,000 acres of land in Ceylon, and about an equal area in the Malay-Straits area, were considered suitable for rubber growing in 1905: A year later, four limes that area had brea planted. Since then, one finds that more than 18 times the first estimate has been planted. Admitting that the first estimate was too low, and that the area planted in 1906 (40,000 acres) was suitable land, can one justify the crop of companies which are coming out, week after week, with estimates of big profits from seeds and plants that are barely above ground, and that are planted on laud which, as far as can at present be judged, is unsuitable for rubber? The millions of H.evea rubber trees in Brazil, which have supplied, and which du supply, the world with its best rubber, grow on low-lying ground which is flooded in most eases from December to ,Tune: farther back from river banks, the trees are more ecattered. On the up rivers, the rubber is farther back and on higher land, but the bulk ef the produce there, say 95 per cent., is Castello, valued at not more than 60 per cent, of fine hard Para rubber. To-day, the Eastern planters are taking a good many points as preyed which are really only in the experimental stage: the first is that rubber will grow on any land given sufficient rainfall; the second is that it. is possible to crunch 150 or more trees on an acre; the third is that it is possible to tap trees at a very early age without, damage to their future; the fourth is that they can draw or tap as much (or more) from a five-year-old tree of 16 in. in diameter as can be got in Brazil from a tree of from 20 to 30 years old. with a diameter of 24 to 36 ins. ! In Brazil, two Estradas ;250 treedl of every age and size, from eight to nine years upwards, will be tapped on an average for 800 to 1,100 lb. in a season, ranging from six to nine months; in placing cups when tapping, an old giant will have 12 cups placed, and a .voung tree two cups, the average working cut at four or five per trees Many people speak of very big returns from Brazil ep-river trees: when trees are tapped only every other yet r. and the average age is from 20 to 30 years, it is easy to understand the high returns. but, wherever trees are worked regularly, no Brazilian gatherer or grower would try to get more than the yield quoted above. Some expert authorities say that rubber trees of every age contain milk, and that they Call be tapped at four years, but experience has shown that it is injurious to do so before trees are twice, that age.
The labour difficulty in Brazil is a favourite argument with the Eastern planter or company promoter, and he well knows that, in order to keep up the interest in all kinds of planting ventures, the exact facts, particulars and prospects of the Haves rubber fields of Brazil must be kept back from the in whielt are now in course of preparation for public absorption. are gambles of the wildest description, and the means by which the price of rubber threatens 10 be forced up, before the end of May, to some 14s. per lb., are not governed by any permanent or healthy factors. The following article is from the pen of a gentleman who has resided both in Brazil and the East. He makes the important point that yield per am+ depends chiefly on the land, and that the flooded areas of Brazil produce both better rubber and larger quantities annually, whilst he confirms the reports of other accredited writers to the effect that Brazil's exports con be largely it-lyre:It:ed.
vestor or speculator just now. The speculator certainly bites as readily at rubber to-day as when he was a kid, although. his share of call's milk (or Nestle's) was surer than his present chance of getting much rubber milk from his Eastern show. It is a case of the promoter's holding the bottle in the shape of a rubber estate as a bait; the speculator puts down his cash, and what sharks cannot draw wit of him the estate's upkeep will : his share will be the kid's comfort, or what doctors call light refreshment—air or gas. There is, clearly, no doubt that the Middle East will produce a large quantity of rubber of good quality, and that well-managed companies, which are reasanably capitalized and which occupy suitable soil, must prove a good investment, butt the "'boom' has already been overdone, and even the best are carrying every shilling of capital under which they can stagger. Whether the East will secure first or second place with regard to output in the future depends un Brazil's ability to secure the necessary capital to develop her rubber fields, and to alter the present awkward, complicated and expensive system of working. It was feared that Sir Weetman Pearson's company would encounter labour troubles at the Para harbour works, but there was no difficulty in securing ally number of men. The wage offered to labourers was about 3s. per day, and, on a rubber property, the same rate of pay would enable a grower of rubber to gather his crop at 10d. to la, per lb. The point is this: the harbour company had the neeessary cash to pay out, whilst the rubber grower is cite;; obliged to get his supplies on credit from the merchant or exporter, which means that he pays double fur everything. 'The prospects in Brazil arc good, and its resources enormous: the promoter or rubber gardens in other parts of the ‘vorld will have to take a long rest shortly, and the sooner the better, but this he may well do— his " innings " has been a good one. The next rubber boom should be in Brazil, and then there will be something solid to go upon. For any man to state that the Amazon fields cannot be brought, es a high point of cultivation is foolish. There is a Muse area of rich land, easy transport, security of title, and abundance of good timber both for building and fuel. At half the present price, a return of £4 or £5 worth of rubber per annum per acre (wild) is assured, and that gives a steady and good dividend during development, planting, and improvement of an estate. All that is required is management stud capital, and to declare that the rubber industry cannot be made to pay in Brazil is simply to say that capital is no advantage in the development of So country or industry. Brazilian supplies, properly handled, will largely help to meet demand, no matter how much consumption may increase, and the certainty of good quality, with known " nerve " is a matter of real importance to the solid-tire world.