Sarawak Rubber Export Coupons 1941

   Brief History of Rubber in Malaya

 

1876 - Sir Henry Alexander Wickham smuggled 70,000 Amazonian rubber tree seeds from Brazil to Kew Gardens.  Only 2,700 germinated.
1876 - 1,919 rubber seedlings reach Ceylon, planted at Henarathgoda Botanical Gardens
1877 - 22 rubber seedlings from Ceylon send to Singapore, 11 planted in Singapore Botanic Gardens, 9 send to Kuala Kangsar, 2 to Malacca
1879 - 28 rubber seedlings from Ceylon send to India and Burma
1895 - Henry Nicholas Ridley discover rubber tapping technique
1897 - 345 acres of rubber plantation in Federated Malay States
1905 - 43,435 acres of rubber plantation in Federated Malay States
1922 - 2,260,000 acres of rubber plantation in Malaya

1925 - establishment of Rubber Research Institute of Malaya ( RRIM )

1956 - establishment of Federal Land Development Authority ( FELDA )

1973 - establishment of Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority ( RISDA )

1988 - establishment of Malaysia Rubber Board ( MRB ).

2000 - establishment of Malaysia Rubber Council ( MRC )
 

 

1922 - 1928 Stevenson Restriction Scheme

 
Following WW1 (1914-1918), demand for rubber diminished, creating a glut of rubber on the market and very low prices.
 
Around 1920 the British Rubber Growers Association turned to then Secretary of State for the Colonies, Winston Churchill, for help. Churchill initiated the Rubber Investigation Committee chaired by Sir James Stevenson, to come up with a plan to stabilize rubber prices. The committee came up with the Stevenson Plan which would stabilize prices by limiting the tonnage of rubber exported. The plan was enacted by the governments of Ceylon and British Malaya.
 
The Federal Legislative Council of the Federated Malay States passed the Export of Rubber (Restriction) Enactment in October 1922, to take effect on November 1
 
The Stevenson Plan ends on November 1, 1928.  Rubber producers returned control of rubber prices to the free market.  But the Great Depression in the 1930s, rubber price dropped to record low.
 
 

1934 – 1942  International Rubber Regulation Scheme

 

After the stock market crash of 1929 the Great Depression hit the United States and rubber demanded once again softened. It was in this context that the International Rubber Regulation Agreement was implemented.  The Agreement was enacted in 1934 between the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, India, Burma, Ceylon, Siam, Sarawak and British North Borneo to restrict the rubber supply in accordance with the decline of rubber prices to maintain rubber prices and profitability of rubber producing firms.

Under the plan, a "Bank" system was established crediting European Estates with estimated output and export of natural rubber. Rubber Export Coupons were issued of native smallholder planters. 

The coupons were printed in Kuala Lumpur by the Survey Department of the Federated Malay Sates. Coupons were issued for the following states and years:

• Federated Malay States          1935-42
• Straits Settlements Mainland 1938-42
• Johore                    1934-42
• Kedah              1934-42
• Kelantan            1934-42        
• Terengganu        1941-42
• Singapore & Penang Island 1936
• Penang Island         1941-1942
• Singapore Island         1941
• Sarawak                 1940-1942
• B L & P                   1941

From 1940 the reverse of coupons remained blank with the exception of Sarawak where the value was indicated by the number and size of the stars on the ornate reverses.

 
In the late 1930s some of the smaller growers found it more profitable to sell their coupons for cash, or exchange them at the local stores for provisions, rather than harvest and sell their allowance of natural rubber. It is said that at times a 1 Picul coupon could be exchanged for more than $100.00, creating the expression "Paper Rubber".
 
Source : http://dniewcollectors.blogspot.com/2011/10/rubber-coupons.html#ixzz7TbIlvmag
 
   

1 pikul 担 ( 60.47kg ) = 100 kati  斤 1 kati 斤 ( 0.6047g ) = 16 tahil 两

 

Sarawak Rubber Export Coupons