The herald., 1898-12-06
Rubber in Para


nnal report of Consul Kenneday, of Para
The condition of the india rubber marke
is one of exceptional activity, marked b,
daily, and even hourly, fluctuations 1t is
impossible to calculate in advance the ex
tent of the Para rubber crop, though, judg
ing from the present outlook, there will
probably be a very large increase over that
of last year. 1t is certain that the rubber
producing area in this Amazon section, re
Gently discovered and untouched, is hun
dreds of times larger than that now being
worked. The price of crude rubber is fixed
in the foreign markets, especially New
York and London.
There entered this port during the fisca
year lS97-9S, 22,257 tons of rubber, and OF
this amount l422 tons were shipped to the
United States and 10, 796 to Europe. The
state OF Para does not produce more than
two-thirds of the rubber shipped through
this port. the balance coming from the
state of Amazonas, as well as from Peru
Bolivia. etc.
The localities where rubber trees thrive
the best are on islands and low ground near
rivers, where the banks are periodically in
undated. Ground that is above water at
all times or that has no drainage is not
suitable. The popularity OF this rubber
tfee is that it will not grow satisfactorily on
cleared or opened ground. 1t requires the
shade of other trees and still air from the
time that its growth begins until it becomes
an adult tree. Without these conditions
the supply of milk is very much affected
In fact, the tree has been known to die
soon after the clearing of ground around it.
No cultivation worth mentioning has been
attempted in the region of the Amazon.
1t is considered useless to invest capital in
cultivation SO long as the Amazonian for
ests show no signs of exhaustion. The
'hevea" requires about fifteen years to
mature; that is too long for the ordinary
investor to wait. The area that is known
to produce Para rubber amounts to at least
l,500000 square miles. Further explora-
tion will no doubt show that this area is far
underestimate. On the River Aquiry
or Acre, one of the tributaries of the
River Purus two hundred trees yield as
much as tons of rubber per annum.
Great quantities of "hevea' are known to
exist on the banks of the Japura, but that
district has not yet been opened up
The AmaZonas Rubber Estates company,
limited (recenty organized with head
quarters at London, with a capital of
f3Oo,OO0), will have its branch headquar-
ters at Manaos. The director and his as
sistants are now on the ground, and in
structions have been given to begin the col
lection of rubber. The company's property
is situated nearly 500 miles from Manaos, on
the River Teffe, and comprises 10000 acres
The company has contracted for the con-
struction of a steam tug to ply between the
estates and Manaos.
The state of Amazonas, like Para, has
adopted gold basis for its budget.
The Rubber Estate of Para, limited (also
British, with headquarters in England, and
branch office here), is new concern, with
q capital of f350,000, owning and area OF
2S4 square miles, or about lS2,254 acres,
containing three thousand rubber roads, of
one hundred trees each. The output on
these estates has reached in one year 800
tons, and with proper management, l am
advised by the most credible authority in
Para, can easily be increased to consider
ably over 500 tons.
Insufficient labor is the most serious diff
ficulty in the rubber industry. 1t would
scarcely seem advisable to invest money in
see his way clear to obtain sufficient labor
with which to collect the rubber. In real
ity, the genuine owner Of the produce of the
forest is the collector, not the land owner
As a rule, the land owner makes ad-
vances to the collectors for their outfit, food
etc, and in return receives the rubber col
lected by them. He sells the produce on
the collectors account, retaining 90 per cent
for himself, and continues making advances
in such manner that the collector always
remains in his debt, and consequently in his
service. 1t frequently happens, however,
that the collector takes the advance. and
frauduently disposes of the rubber to any
buyer who may be on hand. A great deal
OF leakage occurs in this way and believe
no method of preventing it has been dis
covered. This is another of the difficulties
nf the landed proprietor. One of the
methods in practice is to lease the trees in
lots of seventy-fve, one hundred and fifty.
or two hundred .sat given sum per annum
rNd to stipulate that the lessee should sell
The rubber and purchase all his supplies
+; en- the owner. The lessee works his lot
to the utmost, and usually earns a handsome
rroft after paying the rent, and. although
the owner does not obtain the full value of
the lots rented, he makes up for it bv
charging commission on goods supplied. etc.
The profits of the rubber industry would
seem to be large, because the EMPLOYER
keeps 20 per cent and makes about the same
on the goods supplied the employees; but it