Proposals to Restrict Output The recommendation of the Rubber Growers' Association in London to restrict the output from estates by 25 per cent. has caused the rubber position to assume the utmost importance for shareholders. Generally speaking, we believe, the proposal will be considered one wisest in the circumstances, for since the beginning of the year the price of the raw material has undergone an absolutely sensational decline. The highest price seen this year was in January, when the sterling quotation was 2/10} ex warehouse Singapore. By July 1 it had dropped to 1/8}, while the latest quotation is only are the bright prospects held out at the beginning of the year falsified, but in the case of some estates the selling price must be below the cost of production. Fortunately, we believe, this is so in the case of only a small minority, but as regards other estates a continuance of these rates will have a deplorable effect on dividends.
Faruvres iN AMenzca, The reason for the slump since the beginning of the year is to be found largely in the bad business situation prevailing in the United States, America is the largest consumer of rubber in the world, and one big failure and probably others have occurred there. In the ease of one of these the firm was about 2,400 tons "long," and this quantity was thrown on the market with the inevitable result of a. still further weakening. The freight congestion in the country has also hampered manufacturers, for they have been unable to shift stocks in the usual way from the docks. They have endeavoured to relieve the situation by the use of motor lorries, but the fact that this means of transport has had to be employed has placed additional burden on the indus-
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