To the Editor of the "Norq-Cana Datty News."
Strr,—From time to time you publish the current prices of a few of the more popular London rubber shares. If at the same time you placed alongside each quotation the value per planted acre that such price represents you would enable your readers who are largely interested in local Rubber concerns to make a comparison between their holdings and the prosperous companies question, with results not entirely in favour of the latter.
For every planted acre in the list given by you the investor at current prices is paying from £250 to an acre so that before he receives his coveted 10 por cent. dividend each of these companies requires to make a clear profit of £25 to £35 for every acre planted with rubber, whether in bearing or not, which means that the profit required from each acre in bearing is considerably higher.
Mr. H. H. Read in his carefully compiled list shows that at present prices the investor in Shanghai rub-her companies pays from £10 to £75) per planted acre, and as most of them have reached the self-supporting stage, they have only to make a clear profit of from £1 to £7} per acre to enable the buyer at present rates to receive 10 per cent on his outlay. It is true that the London companies have some very old rubber trees, but a large proportion of their trees are not any older than ours and the rubber produced from the estates el local companies f average prices and the amount collected per acre for trees of equal age is not less than that on other estates.
The cost of production sent high in local oom that fault is being daily improved and in time should not be appre-dably greater than that of other companies.
Tf, therefore, London companies with estates valued at such high figures are considered sound investments, our Shanghai companies with estates valued at a tenth of the price ought to be worth buying.
T am, ete., Shanghi Sept. 4.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.