Thursday at the 12th annual meeting of the Anglo-Dutch (Java) Plantations, Ld., held at the head office, 103 Szechuen Road. The attendance represented 105,677 shares, In his address to the shareholders, the Chatman said As you are all aware last year was the worst known in the rubber industry. The current year opened under brighter auspices but the re-natively slight rise in the price brought out big offerings. Once again selling rates have fallen to the zone where it surely cannot pay many estates to continue produetion and we may shortly see a repetition of temporary shutting down, resting areas, ete., similar to last year, The plantation industry, strange as it may seem, has, however, benefited in some respects through adversity, for costs have been drastically cut, new cover plants and new methods of harvesting introduced and all concerned have been put on their mettle in a way that would never have hap) ed had the easy days of prosper continued.
I was away on sick leave practically the whole of last year and, on my return, I was amazed at the manner in which managers, estate staffs and agents had abolished and swept away time-honoured methods in order to meet the new conditions of the market, all this being done in the short space of one year. And to my mind whilst we have adaptability of this nature there is no reason to despair of the future of this great industry.
Neep ror Restriction.
What is needed most at the moment is restriction, voluntary if possible, and if we cannot arrange and adhere to volunta: striction, for undoubtedly there is more rubber being produced than the world in its present unsettled restriction then I should even welcome Government enforced restate can consume. Shanghai companies, I am glad to say, played their part well in the scheme of voluntary restriction, for on comparing their 1920 and 1921 crops I found the latter showed a reduction of approximately 27 per cent.
There is not very much to say regarding estate matters. The greatest economy has been exercised—this, we are told, not to the detriment of the estate, which is reported as being in excellent condition. The days of clean weeding in Java are apparently over and done with, our trees are now ringweeded, this work being done by the tappers without extra pay, whilst the greater part of our area is under grass. On 315 acres we have introduced a cover plant called Mimosa Invisa which is said to overcome lallang, to prevent wash, and to act as a fertilizer in addition. What demerits this cover plant may develop remain to be seen. Meantime, however, planters
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.