Originally published in 1948, this book remains one of the most comprehensive and detailed pictures of the rubber industry. It reviews the rise of the synthetic rubber industry and deals with the competition between natural rubber and synthetic rubber. The period between 1929 and 1942 is considered in greatest detail, but where necessary for an understanding of the problems of the industry, its early history and more recent developments are also covered. Within the field of natural rubber, special attention is given to the relative and competitive positions of estates and of small-holdings, and the treatment of smallholders under rubber restriction is discussed in some detail.

The work of the International Rubber Regulation Committee and the local administration of rubber restriction are analysed at length in the light of research into the records of the Committee and of various local administrative bodies, and into other official documents and Eastern newspapers.