SAMOAN RUBBER

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 264, 6 August 1942, Page 4

SAMOAN RUBBER

Possibility Of Greater Production Seen Dominion Special Service. AUCKLAND, August 5. The suggestion has been made by a correspondent to an Auckland paper that (more rubber could be secured from the mandated territory of Samoa. He states that Government-owned plantations are producing about half-crops and some old private plantations none. The latest reference .to rubber production in official reports does not indicate that much can be expected by rubber manufacturers from that quarter. The brief statement is made that the area under rubber cultivation -is being gradually worked out.

, It would be interesting to know, however, what the term "worked out” 'means. Rubber trees are susceptible to disease, though diseases have been well controlled in the properly-managed plantations of the East. There is no doubt that the Samoan plantations have suffered from neglect, and though they are not of great extent ,a question of importance in this time of emergency is whether the trees can be brought back 'to a higher standard of productivity.

Apparently no planting has been carried out In the period of the mandate. The output in the days of German occupation is not known. In 1928 it was 167 tons of sheet-smoked rubber of good quality, and in the following year 110 tons. Then for several years there was no production. The reason, according to official reports, was the low price. Political disturbances may have been another reason. In 1935 rubber again appeared on the list of exports, but the quantity was only 25 tons. The next year it was 51 tons and in 1937 it was 61 tons. Since then the output has dropped below 50 tons.