World Owes Rubber Comforts To British Empire

Taranaki Daily News, 4 June 1935, Page 14

World Owes Rubber Comforts To British Empire

PLANTA TION PRODUCTION OF CUSHION ON WHEELS OF PROGRESS

THE march of modern civilisation is made comfortable largely by rubber.. Without it the high speed of the motor-car would be impossible, and many processes of industry would be made intolerable by noise and vibration. The world owes its rubber comforts almost wholly to the British Empire. The old “natural industry,” dependent for its supply on wild rubber, could never have furnished more than a small fraction of to-day’s demand. Great Britain founded the “plantation industry.” The story of it is one of the greatest romances of industrial life, and its centre is that lovely garden at Kew planted in the reign of George III:

On a June day in 1875, an eager group Of scientists at Kew sat waiting for the arrival of a. young man from the forests of the Amazon. The young man ■was Mr H. A. Wickham, and bis precious freight seeds from rubber- trees gathered on the Rio Tapajos in Brazil. He had been commissioned by the India Office to collect these seeds, and

he brought back some thousands. Rubber seeds retain their vitality for a very short time. Kew put them to bed instantly in a specially-prepared hothouse, and anxiously awaited results. On the third day they germinated and, thereafter, grew and flourished. By August they were ready to be shipped to Dr Thwaites, at the Botanical Gardens in Ceylon. Thirty-eight special cases, in the nature of portable greenhouses, had been built, with provision for the rapid growth of the seedlings. Some 90' per cent, reached Ceylon in good condition. \ 1 ■'

Throughout the Empire in every tropical and sub-tropical territory careful organising work had been done to prepare the way for the new crop. From Ceylon and India plants were transmitted to the West Coast of Africa, to Burma, to Jamaica, Java, Queensland, Singapore and Trinidad. In November, 1875, Mr Robert Cross, who had been associated with Mr Wickham in the search for rubber seeds in Brazil, and had been instructed to get young plants for Kew—in ,case the seeds carried by Mr Wickham failed to germinate—arrived with 1000 living young plants; as well as seeds of different varieties. About one-third of the plants died. The others were sent on their way’round the Empire. The life history of the precious plants was followed in scientific fashion, and every care taken in their nurture. Marketable rubber was obtained on a small scale from Ceylon in 1901, and in quantity in 1906 —the first commercial fruits of a great adventure. What had been a wild forest tree in South America, giving a precarious yield at the expense of much human suffering, was now a plantation crop, making possible the immense modern expansion in rubber-employing indusThe growth of new uses for rubber goes on year by year. That it will make one day city roads free of noise and vibration seems clear. Great has been the growth of rubber production since the British Empire transferred the plant from the. forest to the farm. In the first year of our King’s reign the various rubber manufacturers of the world used 85,000 tons. Within 20 years the amount used had grown to 705,000 tons. Unfortunately, consumption did not keep pacp with supply. World markets became glutted with the raw material, and there was a disastrous fall in prices. The British Government attempted to remedy this, by a scheme for the restriction of production, but this was applicable,only to the producing areas of the British Empire; the large plantations under Dutch and other control did not co-operate, and increased their markets at the expense, of the British producers. ' There has been, however, recently arranged an international scheme for keeping-production within the limits of the present demand, and- it is now due to come into force in the Dutch colonies.