THE MALAY STATES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 206, 20 May 1918, Page 7

THE MALAY STATES

HEAVY ACCUMULATIONS OP

RUBBER

BIG PROFITS iN TIN

Among the richest of the land of the whole world are"tho territories of tho Federated Malay States. They aro peopled by every race in tho Bast of Asia, but they aro reputed to possess an inhospitable climate, so that for the white man thoy have been the hunting ground only of the strong, which is very incorrect, if people live a healthy life. As everybody knows they produce more rubber than any other part of the British Empire, and are probably tho greatest rubberproducing territories in tho whole world. What is known less well is that they produce also in great abundance tin and tungsten ores. The mining industries in the, "F.M.5.," us the land is called by the inhabitants, have been made rich by the war, but tho rubber people havo fared not so well. A visitor from Singapore who ie connected with theso great businesses of Malay is at picsont in Wellington. The general remarks on the present and future of tho Federated Malay Stales aro the result of an interview ghan by him to n Dominion reporter oi: Saturday. At the beginning of the war the production of rubber in' the Malay States was already well established. It promised to be, as it has still proved to be, one cf the most profitable'planting industries in the East, and it attracted a considerable amount\of capital. The production should hnve gone on increasing during the war, and for a time it actually did so, but even for rubber, a commodity of which there' is a great world'ehartage, there is not epace available to carry more than limited quantities to Britain. Tho British Government provides space for about 2500 tons of rubber, a month. As this represents only about thirty per cent, of the output of rubber at present, tho companies* are sorely embarrassed by this lack of shipping. The accumulation of rubber at Singapore a i'ow weeks ago was 10,000 tons. Rubber, it should be remarked, is not eold at per ton, but at per pound, and tho present value of it is approximately 2s. 4d. The companies are allowed to sell the remainder of their output where they please, but their market is not renlly a free one. Tho Australian . market is negligible, and as tho only big buyers uro the Americans, the Americans are ablo to buy at prices considerably below'the prices ruling in England. It hasbeen possible to ship rubber to Britain in occasional ships olfering, but unless it is' carried for tho British Government tiie freights are enornnju*--upiv:uds of ,££> per ton. At this price it is impossibe to eiup any but the best rubber, and it doea happen that there, are quantities of second grade rubber, containing moisture and dirt, produced, especially by those companies which have not the most up-to-date machinery. On thw product it is impossible to pay tlio' ruinous freights, and there ie.literally Jio nikrket for it.

Under, these-circuiiubinccs many companies have stopped tapping certain areas, with the result that the total out■nut from the FM.S. k likely to bo considerably curtailed unless the present shipping difficulties are removed. The Malay States produce itbout GO per oent. of the world's supply of tin". There have been tin minei hi Malay for many years, out in more recent times the greatest- 611'jcossos have tee:i mndo by working oid Ohiueso mines by modern methods. Tj.ese old tailings are being worW now by bucket dredgers, exactlv like those- that were used Jo win gold in some parts of New Zealand nearly twenty yeare »go. Thero nro numbers of old dfedgers abandoned iu Otago which would be of the greatest "value if they could be- got into running condition again and shipped to the East. It is impossible to buy dredgers or any other kind of mining machinery in Britain. These old workings would not pay expenses by any other methods of handling, but the companies are making fabulous profits out of them now. Most of tho companies havo been formed irith- Australian capital, and groups of parent companies are now being formed in different centres in Australia. They are extending their operations, and they are now attacking Lower Siani. In addition to the tailings they are also going over again workings that were abandoned by the natives as exhausted at a time when tin was at a. price which would pay for the working of only very shallow ground. With these now big machines this ground is paying big profits; after lying for years and yeaTS neglected as barren. And, of course tin has increased in price eince the war began. Prior to the war the value was less than ,£2OO a ton; now it is £370 It has practically doubled in value.

Tungsten ores were nev«r considered to bo profitable before the war. It was considered bad luck to strike a reef of 'scheslite in a tin mine, because the tin ore was of so much greater value. In 'pre-war days all the tungsten ores were sold to Germany, because Germany was practically tlie only buyer Now the British, have discovered the value of it, and they take the whole production of the States at prices which are a tremendous advance on those paid by the Germans.

On all these profits being made in rubber, and in tin «nd tungsten ininins. the F.M.S. Government is levying toll by' way of war taxes, and has become hugely rioh. It has presented a battleship of the Queen Elizabeth class to

the Imperial Navy, and it has been able to contribute large sums to the Imperial war chest. War loans to tlio amount of millions of pounds hnvo been raised. Tlio method ailonted in the raisin;; of theso loans would striko tho Now Zealand people as strange—and yet perhaps not strango aftsr tho experience they have had with the raising of patriotic funds. Tho F.M.S. Government gets its war loans by Jottsrios. There aro always a number of prizes in theso lotteries, ranging in value from .£IO,OOO, or oven .£20,000, down to .CIOO. Tho lotteries have a very strong appeal to tho Chinese, and they buy tickets in wads of thousands of pounds' worth. When appeal irns made to them heforo tho lotteries were begun, to subscribe to tho Red Cross or other funds, none of them except a few of the. more wealthy merchants did anything. But they rushed tho lottery, tickets like hot cakes. The result is that nearly all tho lottery prizes go to tho Chinese. One prize of cE20,000 was won by a small native boy— a coffee-seller—and the story was that he had had to borrow the five dollars wherewith to }>uy the ticket!

Our visitor, insists that the Federated Malay States should command more interest from New Zealanders. Thero is an enormous market for condensed milk and other doiry produc?, and there is also a considerable market for cheap woollens, such as the natives use. The woollens used to come from England, but through German houses. Now they come from Japan, made probably from wool grown ; , in New Zealand or Australia.