LITTLE HARM DONE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23317, 28 September 1945, Page 4

LITTLE HARM DONE

Rubber Plantations In Malaya SINGAPORE. Sept. 26. From information that is now coming in to Singapore, it would appear that the rubber plantations in Southern Malava have not suffered greatly from the Japanese invasion. The report that thev cut down at least 100.000 acres of rubber trees m order to produce food crops in the territory appears to be exaggerated. Neither do they seem to have tapped the trees during their years of occupation. A correspondent who knows the Malayan rubber industry well, says: “I have just completed a 700-mile car journev through some of the best yielding estates in South Malaya. N6t once during that journey did I see a single rubber tree that had been tapped. This failure on the part of the Japanese to gather some of the richest of their conquests may be explained by the fact that Japan obtained considerable quantities of rubber from conquered areas nearer the homeland. French Indo-China. for example. Malaya's rubber industry will soon be back in full production, but the tin industry Is most unfortunate, due mainly to our own scorched earth or denial policy at the time of our retreat. Little dredging has been done since the Japanese took over, and the mines are in a sorry state, but thev are sick onlv because costly dredging machinery was destroyed. Before the occupation the mines were turning out 100 000 tons annually valued at £16.000.000.”