THE RUBBER OUTPUT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21600, 22 March 1932, Page 9

THE RUBBER OUTPUT

SUGGESTED RESTRICTIONS t FAILURE OF NEGOTIATIONS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 20. (Received March 21, at 5.5 p.m.) A Colonial Office communique states that the British and Netherlands Governments, in association with representatives of rubber growers in British and Dutch overseas territories, have been engaged in negotiations in order to see whether a practicable scheme for the improvement of the rubber situation could be devised. In the course of these negotiations the British and Netherlands Governments have consulted the Governments of Ceylon, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. The stocks of rubber in the world at present are huge, being estimated at about 000,000 tons. It was agreed that if stocks could be got down to 300,000 tons, or six months supply, it might be regarded as reasonable.

The negotiations showed that although the difficulties regarding plantation rubber might be overcome, and it might be possible, although difficult, to deal with native production by quota in Malaya and Ceylon, insuperable difficulties arose in regard to the Dutch East Indies, it being found impossible to ascertain even the area of native production in Sumatra or Java. A scheme based on a quota for plantation rubber and an export duty for native rubber was then considered. The conclusion was, however, reached that an export duty on native production gave no guarantee of restriction in the native output, and the negotiations were discontinued. The effect of the failure of the negotiations on the rubber market has, it is believed, been very largely discounted.