THE'RUBBER BOOM

Grey River Argus, 28 April 1910, Page 7

THE'RUBBER BOOM

*^ A great deal has been heard recently on 'the subject of,- wild and plantation rubber, and " the place that the ratter has taken in the manufacture of rubber tyres Tho public mil probably be interested to know that -seven >ears elapse before any yield can be obtained from newly-planted rubber trees, and at tho end of that time only ilb per annum can be drawn, whilst this is slowly increased to; lilb on the twelfth year. Old trees of 30 years and over provide anything from 5 to 61b ot rubber per annum,; and wild Trees vvlxioh line the Amazon fiver in South' America might yield rather more than that. Now, although plantation rubber is satisfactory enough for somo kinds of work, .iif.-fact, for most kimte of rubber work, it' has not sufficient "nerve*' for the manufacture of salkV rubber tyres, and consequently, the manufacturers of these 11 tyres are de^ pendent on- the vagaries of the suppiy from Para (a. port at the mouth 01 the Amazon Riven from whiph the wild rubber takes its name). . Perhaps thp> violent fluctuations which; have taken place ;-n the price) of Para, rubber during the last 18 months are due not so much, to the :01-dinary:. fluctuations: "as to the &|aw i j !r of " "v^ar that ha§ existed between the Brazilian Government and the rubber-producers. The method of collecting rubber adopted on the Amazon River is for someone* with sufficient capital to purchase a flat-bottomed steamer, and to secure a staff of labourers. The expedition then moves off up the riven to wher<* tho untapped trees are. thick* and these are then bled to the full extent of their capacity, which either kills them outright or makes them useless for another 20 years. "When the boat is .as full as it can bold, the expedition, returns to Para, and vf the owner has had any luck at all he wilJ have .lost between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of his crew through fever or raids of wild animals. He will thus be. loft on his. return with a large supply of rubber, and little or no wages to pay for an expedition which may have lasted anything ,up to six months. That man will, probably be rich, and witn one or two more similar expeditions, will become a millionaire. The .paternal- Government of Brazil, regarding rubber a* a valuable commodity, imposed an export tax partly for the benefit of its .officials, no that when the price of rubber fell in 1908 to 2s 9d per lb the merchants preferred to store their rubber to exporting it, hoping in tho course of a; year or so to obtadn much better pri- .: ces. A -5 this seriously affected the prcjjr fits of the officials in question, a rather high storage tax was imposed, so that, in addition to the ordinary cmb of storage, one had a few pottn a. year to pay the Government icr ri.. priviilege of being allowed to s^ore it, with the natural result that when; prices began to re-cover, it was found that more than ever had to be paid. It will be ,easily realised that such a state of affairs could not last, and arrangements would/ be made to either ship the stuff immediately, or else, to. carry it via" Iquitos, 4000 miles up the river in Peru, where the Brazilian Government could not touch it. Thus, although the price of .Para rubber, wijujoh is necessary for the manufacture off solid rubber tyres, is unduly high, another six months is likely to find it back at its normal satisfactory level 1 ? from 4s 6d to 5s per lb