Jl i.v i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



343 



INDIA-RUBBER GOODS IN COMMERCE. 



EXPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES. 



OFFICIAL statement of values (or the month of April, 

 1903. and the first ten months of four fiscal years, be- 

 ginning |uly 1 . 



In addition, there were exports of rubber goods during the 

 ten months as follows : To Alaska, $86,260; Hawaiian islands, 

 $52,712; Philippines, $47.7S7; Porto Rico, $15,140—3 total 

 value of $201,899 °f suc h goods to the non-contiguous terri- 

 tories o( the United Stales. 



GREAT BRITAIN. 

 The following table, compiled from official returns, relates 

 to the values of exports of manufactures of India-rubber (in- 

 cluding boots and shoes) during four yeais past : 



1839. 1900. 1901. 1902. 



To Foreign countries. .£(,111,216 £ (. log 416 £ S:S6,Si6 £ 885 36S 

 To British possessions. 277,589 314.048 375,597 272,274 



Total /,i.3SS,8o5 £1,423.464 £1,262,415 £1,157,642 



Imparts of rubber goods (including boots and shoes) during 

 the same period have been in value as below stated : 



1899. 1900. 1901. 1912. 



From Foreign countries.. £689593 £708,175 £681,973 £759.328 

 From British possessions. 2 018 3 906 8.154 20.045 



Total £691.611 £712,081 ^6qo,i27 £779.373 



The next table indicates the value of the trade in rubber 

 goads with the five countries ranking highest in respect to ex- 

 ports in 1902, and also the five highest in respect to imports : 



Imports: Value. 



United States £360,31 6 



Germany [93,818 



Holland 73395 



Belgium 67.011 



France ' 



I 1 ..rts: Value. 



France £221,641 



Germany 149 474 



Australia 100.407 



Belgium 100,286 



Holland 64,754 



The value of exports to the United States was £44.796. 



EXPORTS OF RUBBER BOOTS ANH SHOB . 

 [The Figures relate to Dozen Pairs ] 

 Foreign Countkifs : 1901. 1903. British Posssssions: 1901. 



France 26,026 24,177 Australia 9,605 



18,684 

 10,594 



9.255 



7,046 



5.505 

 5.082 

 1.588 

 1,864 



Belgium .... 15,829 



Turkey 14.803 



1 lermany 7,163 



Norway 7,671 



China 9.243 



Holland 5,611 



Denmark 2,539 



Other countries.. 2,859 



Hong Kong 13 .705 



Natal 5.059 



East Indies. 

 Cape Good Hope. 

 New Zealand. . . . 

 British Guiana. .. 



West Indies 



Canada 



Other possessions. 



6,2Si 



3.657 



2,215 



3.528 



880 



754 

 656 



1902. 



15,362 

 14.420 

 8,615 

 ".402 

 5,866 

 5.059 

 f,505 

 860 

 18 

 606 



Total 91.744 83,795 



Total 46,340 59,833 



Total dozen pairs. 

 Total value. . . . 



1901. 

 138,084 

 £■76.387 



143,628 



£i7i.557 



IMPORTS OF RUBBER BOOTS AM) SHOES. 



From — 



United Stales 

 Germany. 



France 



Holland 

 Belgium 



I The Figures relate to Dozen Pah s 



151,806 



57,946 



10.344 



1,124 



657 



1907. 



144.365 



19.451 



10,701 



3 . 360 

 26 



From— 



Other countries 



Canada 



1901. 



70 



7.244 



141 



12.045 



THE COMMERCIAL PACIFIC CABLE. 



Total 229,191 220,095 



Total value. £246.221/288. 832 



THE cable ship Anglia. which began laying the new Pacific 

 cable from Manila on May 25, landed it at Guam at mid- 

 night on June 1, the splicing to the shore end having been com- 

 pleted, and the line was opened for business on June 2. There 

 then remained to be laid the section between Guam and Hon- 

 olulu to complete the line across the Pacific. The length of 

 that line, to be laid by the Anglia and the Colonia, and touch- 

 ing at Midway islands, is 3440 miles. 



In September last Vice President George G. Ward, of the 

 Commercial Pacific Cable Co., on arriving in New York from 

 England, announced that the United States and Manila would 

 be in communication by cable on July 4 next. Thus far the 

 program then in prospect has been carried out without a hitch, 

 and the belief still exists that the completed cable will be in 

 operation by the date mentioned. 



It may not be generally known that while the Pacific cable is 

 of British manufacture, the shore ends of the various sections 

 — in important item, by the way — were manufactured in the 

 United Stales, by The Okonite Co., Limited. The cable end at 

 San Francisco is about 6)4 miles long, made to the specifica- 

 tion of the cable company as follows : Each cable consists of 

 four cores laid up around a jute center, having a full twist every 

 ten feet, then covered with jute and lead. Each conductor 

 consists of seven wires, stranded, weighing approximately 170 

 pounds to the mile, and covered with " okonite " to a diameter 

 of o 295 of an inch. Etch of the cores is taped and lead covered, 

 and on three of them there are distinguishing marks in the shape 

 of raised ribs, the fourth one being left plain. The cores were 

 subjected to a breakdown test of 5000 volts alternating current, 

 applied for ten minutes, and tests for insulation, conductor re- 

 sistance and capacity were constantly taken during manufacture 

 and laying. After the cables were laid and spliced up, final 

 tests gave results practically identically the same as those ob- 

 tained at the factory without splices. 



Two such cable ends were supplied for Honolulu, each a tri- 

 fle over 5 miles in length, and similar sections for Manila and 

 the other stations. The experience of the Atlantic cable com- 

 panies has shown that under certain conditions Gutta-percha 

 lacks sufficient durability for use in cable ends, and the Okon- 

 ite company have supplied such ends for some of the cables 

 after they had first been laid with ends of Gutta-percha. To 

 avoid the possibility of trouble on the new cable, land ends in- 

 sulated with compound instead of Gutta percha were called for 

 in the original specifications. 



ANOTHER RUBBER DISTRICT EXHAUSTED, 



ONLY a few years ago the editor of the British Central Af- 

 rica Gazette, then recently started at Zomba, in British 

 Central Africa, forwarded a sample of native rubber to The In- 

 dia Rubber World, with a request for an estimate of its value. 

 Following this came reports of the collection of rubber in that 

 district— lying to the west of Lake Nyasa — and its shipment to 

 London, where fairly good prices were obtained, and hopes 

 were entertained that a permanent new source of wealth had 

 been "developed. But a recent issue of The Times (London) 

 publishes a latter from the Rev. Alexander Hetherwick, m. a., 

 of the Church of Scotland mission at Blantyre, long stationed 

 in the district referred to, in which he writes : "Central Africa 

 bis no indigenous product such as will form a staple export. 

 The supply of native rubber is exhausted, and so, too, is the 

 ivory trade." The rubber was collected from the Landolphia 

 creepers, which seem everywhere to disappear rapidly under 

 continued tapping. 



