April i, 1903] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



227 



INDIA-RUBBER INTERESTS IN EUROPE. 



HIGHER PRICES FOR RUBBER GOODS IN GERMANY. 



AT the suggestion of the Centralvereins Deutscher Kaut- 

 schukwaaren-Fabriken a meeting was held on Febru- 

 ary 28 at the Hotel Kaiserhof in Berlin to consider the 

 question of advancing the prices of India rubber -.- 

 That the effect of any such meeting might be general, some 

 leading manufacturers who are not members of the union were 

 invited and attended, twenty three factories in all being repre- 

 sented. The sentiment of the meeting was that, in view of the 

 high prices of crude rubber, textile goods, and the other mate- 

 rials entering into their industry, an advance of 10 per cent, on 

 the prices of rubber goods was desirable, but final action was 

 deferred to a further meeting announced for March 24, which, 

 it was expected, would be more largely attended. The object 

 and purpose of these meetings is commended by the Gummi- 

 Zeitung (Dresden), which remarks, editorially : 



" The situation in the raw rubber market is developing unin- 

 terruptedly on the lines predicted by us in November of last 

 year. Prices have permanently maintained their high level — 

 minor reductions taking place only in extreme cases, when the 

 demand declines temporarily. Immediately upon a return of 

 liberal buying, however, prices again advance. The good mid- 

 dle sorts, however, which are always in good demand, are ad- 

 vancing slowly, but steadily. Prospects of a material change 

 of this condition do not exist ; on the contrary, a further ad- 

 vance is to be feared. Certainly a lasting decline in raw mate- 

 rial is not in sight. The tension thus created in the rubber in- 

 dustry has reached the breaking point, and manufacturers in 

 every branch of the industry have begun to realize the urgent 

 necessity for advancing the prices of their products. A few of 

 them already have taken the initiative in this direction and in- 

 formed their patrons of a necessary advance in prices." 



* * * 



The London India- Rubber Journal (March 2) denies the re- 

 ports of concerted price advances by English rubber goods man- 

 ufacturers, lately current in Germany, except on rubber thread. 

 THE NAME " REITHOFFER " IN AUSTRIA. 



When, in June, 1872, the business was organized which since 

 has been known as the Vereinigte Gummiwaaren-Fabrikoi, 

 Hirburg-Wien, the factory was acquired of the old lirm J. N. 

 Reithoffer, at Wimpissing (Austria), with depots at Vienna, 

 and all the patents, clientele, and rights of that firm. As suc- 

 cessors to this business, the Harburg firm have since added to 

 their name "vormals J. N. Reithoffer." In 1863 the firm 

 Josef Reithoffer's Sonne was registered in Vienna, selecting a 

 location in the same Mariahilferstrasse where J. N. Reithof- 

 fer's store had existed for thirty years, and engaged in the 

 same branch of trade. During the "eighties" two former 

 employes of the Harburg-Vienna firm established themselves 

 next door — Herrengasse, 4— to the retail store of that firm, 

 their sign indicating : " Depot of rubber goods from the factory 

 of Josef Reithoffer's Sonne." All of which led the Harburg- 

 Vienna company to give special emphasis to that part of 

 their firm namj, "vormals J. N. Reithoffer,'' on their signs in 

 Vienna and their price lists intended for the trade in that 

 city. The firm Josef Reithoffer's Sonne feeling themselves in- 

 jured by this, brought suit to restrain the Harburg-Vienna 

 company from such prominent use of the name " Reithoffer," 

 the result of which has been a decision in favor of the de- 



fendants, who have established their claim to be sole succes- 

 sors of J. N. Reithoffer and their right to use his name as 

 linently as they may see fit. The Harburg-Vienna com- 

 pany, therefore, have issued a circular reiterating their direct 

 and sole succession of Johann Nepomuk Reithoffer, who was 

 the founder of the India-rubber industry in Austria, and that 

 no other firm by the name Reithoffer has any connection with 

 the same. 



IMPRISONED FOR STEALING RUBBER. 



Several persons have been sentenced to imprisonment in 

 connection with the thefts of crude rubber which occurred 

 throughout the years 1899-1902. from the Kolnische Gummi- 

 faden-Fabrik (Cologne Deutz, Germany). So extensive were 

 these thefts that a single rubber factory had rubber delivered to 

 it. which afterward was found to have been stolen, to the value 

 of $16,452. At the hearing in the criminal court, the director 

 of the rubber thread factory which had sustained the loss, Herr 

 Gustav Walter, stated that large quantities of rubber were used 

 — 5000 to 10.000 kilograms [ = 1 1.023 1022,046 pounds] every 

 two weeks. Suspicion of theft was first caused by a great in- 

 crease in the shrinkage of rubber in washing. Members of the 

 family of the superintendent of the rubber thread factory were 

 implicated, though no proof was offered that the superintend- 

 ent himself had knowledge of the thefts. Outsiders were en- 

 gaged as go-betweens, and the stolen rubber was offered to fac- 

 tories as having been received from Holland. Three persons 

 were sentenced for stealing for an aggregate of 3 years and 8 

 m inths, and four persons for concealing stolen goods for an 

 aggregate of 5 years and 4 months. 



LARGE WORK IN CABLE CONSTRUCTION. 



At the annual meeting of the Telegraph Construction and 

 Maintenance Co., Limited (London, March 3), it was stated 

 that during three years submarine cables made by the company 

 had been laid around the world, involving 29000 miles of ca- 

 ble. They had carried out minor contracts, which brought up 

 the total output to 37,000 miles laid during the three years. 

 This was equal to an average of 40 miles per day, and at times 

 of pressure the speed "of making exceeded 60 miles per day. 

 The profit for last year, after deducting interest charges, had 

 been ^99.000. The dividends had been the same as last year — 

 4|^ per cent, on the preference and 20 per cent, on the ordinary 

 shares. The amount carried forward is ,£101,380. Important 

 extensions of the company's facilities are contemplated. The 

 pension fund, for the benefit of employes, now reaches ,£63.890. 

 THE DUNLOP COMPANY AND MOTOR TIRES. 



The Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., Limited, have issued a 

 circular explaining their position with regard to motor tires, in 

 answer to an impression which has prevailed in some quarters 

 that the company were antagonistic to the automobile move- 

 ment. Before the introduction of automobiles the Dunlop com- 

 pany were bound by certain agreements relating to the Bartlett 

 " Clincher "lire patent, purchased from the North British Rub- 

 ber Co., Limited, not to issue more than one license for the 

 manufacture of this tire in addition to the one issued to the 

 North British company themselves. In time one such license 

 was granted to the Clipper Pneumatic Tyre Co., Limited, since 

 when the Dunlop company have had no power to license the 

 importation or use in Great Britain of foreign tires infringing 

 the Bartlett patent, in consequence of which automobilists were 



