INDIA RUBBER.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 70, 24 March 1887, Page 4

INDIA RUBBER.

Will it Pay to Produce it iv

New Zealand ?

A UKSTI.F.MAS lately arrived amongst as from London, and who hue been well known to our leading firm? by n/iraa for poiiib i 4 iucii-.g \A\\e, 'to ayouC to' attaapt the opi-ni'i^ up of >. new and possibly valuable inuuttiy in I ho colony. A* a Mincing Lane man, Mr George White, to uhorn we refer, has a<td much, to i}o with thp eub6tui.ee known as indU rubber. His f^st ex[jerieno« and certain experimentshe ha^i madu hero set-in to have assured h m that it ie psseibl. to produoo this material with prufi; in iN'ew Zealand Before going furt'ior in tho direction of hie intended plnns, we will ray a lew words about the material itself. India-rubber, which, ac moot of our readers »ro doubtleea aware, is the coagulated sap of certain trees belonging to toe botanical data lie.us, or fjgs, has a large and increasing commercial value, alrpost dajly, wo may say. we bear of freah utes for thia singular vegetable product. To give our reader* some idea of the vatt demand for it, wo may mention that Irom Parara, the shipping port of the great Amazon Kivor, last year there was imported 15.0U0 tons of india-rubber, valued at the va«t sum of six million pound* eterliug. This is, however, only one of tho places from whence the valuable cap is obtained. The be-t is that of trto tree Herea braziliensis, known in commerce as Parma rubber. The other tre;>s known to science and the Europuan uiinketf as rubber producers are the Cas tiUoa of Nicaragua, the Landolphia, wbich produces the well-knoA'n rubber exported from Madagascar and the MLSutiibique Channel, tbo Ficub elaatica of Assam, and the Ficus macro philla, ot New Guinea nnd other parts ot O;'.ea»a A largo output may be expected shortly from Central Africa when Stanley's Congo free state is in better working order, but; that the demand is practicably inexhaustible ie patent to those who hava made it the subject of inquiry. Now, rubber of the best quality, cay Parara rubber, ie, we are informed, valued at as much as 5s per pound at times, and is now worth about Sa or 3s 8d; a tree, aoriording to Mr White's calculations and experiments, should produce in about five or six years about 61b3 of nap per tree. Mr White's attention was first drawn to the consideration of attempting the cultivation of india-rubber here by seeing some specimens of these trees growing well in Auckland, although in exceedingly dry places. Having tapped tome of these trees, he was surprised at the good flow of sap. Further experiments, in which Mr White was much assisted by Mr Pond, the Government analyst, who ascertained.that, the sap contained a little over 50 per o Df, cf water, have resulted iv spucimens of New Zealand produced rubber being sent to various commercial gentle men in England and Germany for them fo report upon. " Should," cays Mr George White, "your planting cost not mure than that of an ordinary orchard, and your average number of trees bo about 90 to the acre, a roturn of rubber at the end oi seven years to the value of abcut £20 per acre might fairly be expected, lhe return would, of course, rapidly increase as the trees grew, and a return of 100 times thia in another ten years would not be at all out of the way, judging from what is produced iv othor places." Mr White was anxioua to see a ficus growing in swamp land in New Zealand, and for sometime hunted high and low in vain for one, but discovered one at last at Wairoa. This one, he Eays, made him determined to carry out his idea. Mr Bailance has expressed himeelf strongly in favour of tho scheme, and has promised Mr White every assistance in the matter, aud even the use of certain swamp lands at a nominal rental. We may hope to hear before long as to the values placed upon the samplos sent to Europe. Should the report upon these be satisfactory, we may venture to hope for good things for Mr White's experiment. We cannot, however, help a feeling, at the same time, of doubt as to the success that will attend the growing of rubber here ; tropical sunbeams and very cheap labour are wanted, neither of which are to be found within our shores. To those who have viewed the forests of giant india rubber trees upon the steaming banks of the mighty Amazon in South A merica, or the Fly River in New Guinea, a doubt will present itself as to tho feasibility of cultivating it here. Only a month's sail from here are illimitable forests of it, with black labour to hand. New Guinea, for products of this sort, will prove a formidable rival to New Zealand in a f«w yean.