24 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1905. 



RUBBER INTERESTS IN EUROPE. 



STRIKE OF RUBBER WORKERS AT LEIPZIG. 



THE strike of rubber workers at Leipzig, after some weeks, 

 was still in progress at last accounts. Beginning with 

 the hard rubber workers, it had extended until a number of 

 workers in soft rubber were included. While the strikers at 

 their meetings claimed to be holding their own, the employers, 

 on the other hand, claimed to be able to maintain their deter- 

 mination not to grant the advance in wages asked for, on the 

 ground that in view of the high prices of raw materials the pay- 

 ment of higher wages was absolutely impossible. The manu- 

 facturers had refused to enter into any discussion of the other 

 demands of the labor union, on the ground that their accept- 

 ance would mean loss of control of the factories by their owners. 

 One report states that the manufacturers have stocks of goods 

 of such dimensions as to render it unnecessary to produce any 

 more for a considerable time to come, and that even if orders 

 should go unfilled the manufacturers would shed few tears, on 

 account of the small profits realizable on rubber goods at this 

 time. 



DUNLOP PNEUMATIC TYRE CO., LIMITED. 

 The directors of this company, in calling an extraordinary 

 meeting of the shareholders in London for September 14, 

 stated that they wished to lay before them the position of the 

 company in its manufacturing aspect. The last annual report, 

 issued in November last, stated that the number of tires manu- 

 factured in the company's works during the year had reached 

 the total of 1,556.220, which "represents an enormous increase 

 as compared with any previous year and far surpasses the out- 

 put of any firm in the world." The position of the company 

 now, it is asserted, is that this large output has not only been 

 maintained but greatly exceeded during the curient season, and 

 that the company has been obliged to allow a large number of 

 orders in the motor tire department to pass unexecuted. The 

 directors now desire to erect another completely equipped 

 factory as speedily as possible, and the meeting was called for 

 the consideration of this point and its bearing upon the pro- 

 posed reorganization of the company. The royalties which the 

 company previously received lapsed with the patents, in 1904, 

 and the price of tires for the current season was substantially 

 reduced. Yet the chairman stated at the meeting that their 

 dividend promised to be larger this year than last year. The 

 plan outlined for securing the additional factory — to cost £s°-' 

 000 — is to suspend for one year the diversion of the customary 

 amount to the sinking fund maintained to retire the company's 

 debentures at their maturity. It was reported that a large num- 

 ber of assents had been secured to the plan of reorganization, 

 but definite action was postponed until the sentiment of the 

 various classes of shareholders could be more clearly ascer- 

 tained. Chairman DuCros said that in addition to their larger 

 tire production than ever before, their factories had made this 

 year 400,000 rims and more than 2,000.000 valves. The com- 

 pany had large hopes in respect of the demand for motor bus 

 tires. 



GREAT BRITAIN. 

 In the bankruptcy court at St. Albans, England, on August 

 22, A. Vaughan Stevens, of Harpenden, appeared for his public 

 examination, a report of which at length appears in T/ie Herts 

 Advertiser. His statement disclosed liabilities of ^{[3417 9s. and 

 no assets. Nine years ago he became director of Bourne 

 Brothers & Co., Limited, owning six tenths of their capital of 

 ^Tio.ooo. Subsequently he conducted business as Bourne 

 Brothers & Co., trustee for the limited company, and lately he 



had been rendering services, without specified compensation, 

 for A. C. Baber, sole owner of the capital of the reorganized 

 Bourne Brothers & Co., Limited, and trading as A. C. Baber 

 & Co., rubber manufacturers, at Mansion House Chambers, E. 

 C, London. Mr. Stevens attributed his insolvency to the fail- 

 ure of Messrs. Bourne, Limited. For one thing, he had endorsed 

 their bills to John Lang, a London rubber merchant, and Mr. 

 Lang was one of the creditors who appeared in the proceedings 

 against Stevens. The latter testified that the business of the 

 Bourne company was chiefly making rings and screw stoppers 

 for bottles, of rubber and another material, under a secret not 

 patented and known only to Stevens. 



FRANCE. 

 At St. Claude, in the department of the Jura, a new works 

 is being erected for the exclusive manufacture of hard rubber, 

 by a joint stock company, organized in January of the present 

 year, with a capital of 600,000 francs [ = $i 15,800]. Hermann 

 Wezel,of Grosswenden, Saxony, was elected managing director, 

 and the buildings as well as the technical installation are being 

 constructed in conformity with his specifications. The firm 

 expect to commence operations by January next. 



GERMANY. 

 The board of Vereinigte Gummiwaren-Fabrikcn Harburg- 

 Wien have decided to make a motion, at the general meeting 

 which IS to be called for October 28, for declaring a dividend of 

 12 'j per cent., the same amount as last year. This comparatively 

 satisfactory result, says Giimini-Zeituni;, has been obtained both 

 by the increase in sales and by the participation of the company 

 in the Internationale Galalith-Gesellschaft HofT & Co., which 

 is showing a most satisfactory development. A full report on 

 the company's interest in Galalith appeared in The India 

 Rubber World February 1, 1905 — page 155. 



RUBBER BOTTLE STOPPERS IN GERMANY. 

 [from " gum.mi zeitung," skptember 8.] 



A NEW movement against rubber stoppers for bottles has 

 been inaugurated by the manufacturers of cork stoppers, who, 

 after having prepared their campaign, are now evidently ad- 

 vancing to the fight. They are, in fact, distributing circulars, 

 in which they refer to the " discovery " of Dr. Pond concerning 

 the " infallibly mortal effects of the use of rubber bottle stop- 

 pers," and they make the following statement : 



"The time has apparently come when the authorities involved 

 in the matter, such as the police departments and especially the 

 Imperial department of health of the German empire, must 

 enter upon a thorough consideration of the question, whether 

 the use of such patented bottle stoppers as are deleterious to 

 health shall in future continue to be allowed. Government 

 tests appear to be a preeminent requirement." Manufacturers 

 of rubber stoppers will undoubtedly have no objection to truly 

 scientific tests, as they would only serve to prove the absolute 

 fallacy of Dr. Pond's contentions. 



If the cork stopper manufacturers believe, however, that the 

 " prohibition " of the use of red rubber discs for bottle stoppers 

 would tend to remove all patented rubber stoppers in general 

 from the market, they commit a very serious error. The re- 

 sult would simply be that common sulphur would be used for 

 vulcanizing, instead of golden sulphuret of antimony, and that 

 grey or black rubber discs would be supplied for bottle stoppers. 

 The red color of these discs is, in fact, merely a matter of style 

 or taste, and their abolition would leave the cork stopper man- 

 ufacturers no ground to stand on in their stubborn agitation 

 against rubber stoppers. It would, in fact, be impossible to 

 abolish the use of rubber stoppers, as they occupy by this time 

 too prominent a place among our daily necessities. 



