44 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^A^ORL,D 



[November i, 1905. 



by chance that such a fine consignment had got into the mar- 

 ket, and no hopes were entertained of seeing a like one within 

 the near future. The process of smoking had left but little 

 water in the Caoutchouc and the loss in washing was just 10 

 per cent. The color of the washed skin was like that of Para, 

 and had an agreeable smoke odor, quite dillerent from that of 

 Pari. 



With these statements I endeavor to pursue the object to 

 arouse those who are influential in gathering Castilloa Caout- 

 chouc of so valuable, dry, not foul smelling quality, to produce 

 these sorts for which the rubber manufacturer finds a larger 

 field of application, their light color being of especial value in 

 the manufacture of colored rubber goods. The manufacturers 

 pay for such Castilloa Caoutchouc materially higher prices, and 

 therefore, the careful preparation of the Caoutchouc milk will 

 certainly pay well for the extra care. 



• * • 



What are described as "loaves" (brote) in the preceding 

 article refer evidently to the form of Pard rubber described in 

 English speaking trade circles as " biscuits " or " hams " being 

 the aggregations of rubber coagulated by the smoking process 

 on wooden paddles and sometimes attaining a very large size. 

 The word " loaves ", however, is not a common trade designa- 

 tion in England or America. It does not seem to have been 

 proved by Dr. Esch that the unusually excellent lots of rubber 

 mentioned by him as coming from Peru and Colombia were 

 derived from trees of any Castilloa species. As is well known, 

 considerable Hevea rubber is now derived from Peru, and the 

 similarity noticed of Peruvian lots to " Matto Grosso Pard " in- 

 dicates that certain rubbers referred to may not have been 

 Castilloa rubber at all, but Hevea. Likewise the excellent 

 Colombian rubber may have been from some species of Sapittm. 

 Or, it may have been Castilloa rubber from planted trees, the 

 owners of which coagulated it with unusual care, comparable 

 with that which the planters of Ceylon and the Malay States 

 give to the latex of Hevea Brasiliensis. While Dr. Esch leaves 

 a number of points in relation to Castilloa rubber unsolved, the 

 rubber trade is to be congratulated upon the fact that investi- 

 gators of his ability are devoting so much energy to efforts to 

 determine the sources of commercial rubber and the conditions 

 under which it is prepared for market. — The Editor. 



CRUDE BALATA DUTIABLE. 



TH E collector of customs at the port of Norfolk assessed for 

 duty, at the rate of 35 per cent, ad valorem, an importa- 

 tion of so called " sheet Balata " made by Castner, Curran & 

 Bullitt (New York), who filed a protest, claiming the material 

 to be entitled to free entry. The United States general ap- 

 praisers at New York assume that the collector's assessment of 

 duty was by virtue of the supposed similitude of the merchan- 

 dise to manufactures of Gutta-percha or what is known as hard 

 rubber, while it is evident that the claim of the protestants of 

 free entry is upon the assumption that provision for crude rub- 

 ber includes crude Balata. The appraisers' decision says : 



The evidence before us submitted on behalf of the protestants, and 

 not controverted by the government, is that the Balata in question is in 

 the crudest possible form in which Balata is produced. It appears that 

 the so-called sheets are obtained by tapping the Balata tree and permit- 

 ting the sap to run or drop on a palm leaf or board, and, after the sap 

 is thus spread out on the palm leaf or board, exposing it to the sunlight 

 and permitting it to dry. The merchandise is not advanced beyond this 

 process to fit it for any particular purpose — in short, nothing has been 

 done to constitute the Balata a manufactured article. 



The collector's classification and the importers' claim evi- 



dently are based upon the idea that Balata is so much akin to 

 rubber that for tariff purposes they are the same. The board 

 holds, however, that while they are sufficiently alike to warrant 

 the application of the similitude clause to articles manufactured 

 from Balata there is a marked difference between Gutta-percha, 

 India-rubber, and Balata, in the crude state. This difference 

 was set forth in a decision of the general appraisers (G. A. 5098 

 — March 13, 1902), in which decision it was also held that Balata 

 sheets fitted for such goods as dress shields were dutiable at 35 

 per cent., on account of their similarity to Gutta-percha wares, 

 no provision existing in the tariff schedule for Balata. [See 

 The India Rubber World, April i, 1902— page 230.J But 

 even if the various substances named were sufficiently similar 

 to warrant the application of the similitude clause in the event 

 of crude rubber being subject to duty, this would not justify 

 the application of the similitude clause in this instance because 

 crude rubber is in the free list. The appraisers, therefore, hold 

 the collector's classification to be erroneous ; since crude Balata 

 is not elsewhere provided for in the tariff it must be regarded 

 as an unmanufactured article not enumerated, dutiable at the 

 rate of 10 per ctnt. ad valorem under the provision 6 of the 

 tariff act of 1897. 



Members of the trade interviewed by The India Rubber 

 World intimated that importers of block and sheet Balata 

 would protest this duty, though no action would be taken by 

 any one until he had made an importation and a duty had been 

 assessed. It is not doubted that the framers of the tariff act 

 regarded Balata as included in ' India-rubber and Gutta-per- 

 cha," and therefore entitled to free entry, but the customs au- 

 thorities having decided that Balata is neither India-rubber 

 nor Gutta-percha, and Balata not being specified in the "free 

 list," evidently the appraisers have no choice but to assess the 

 10 per cent, rate as above reported. 



THE NEWEST ATLANTIC CABLE. 



THE fifth transatlantic cable of the Commercial Cable Co. 

 (New York) has just been successfully laid, the final 

 splice having been made off the coast of Ireland on October 6, 

 by the cable ship Colonia. The new cable is reported to be of 

 the best and most expensive type of submarine cable ever laid. 

 It was manufactured by the Telegraph Construction and Main- 

 tenance Co., Limited (London), having been begun in March 

 last and shipped on board their 7976 ton steamer Colonia on 

 August 5. Atlantic cables are laid from west to east, because 

 of the direction of the prevailing winds, and ships make better 

 speed going eastwar(j. This is why the Colonia began laying 

 the cable from the Nova Scotia coast. On October 3 she ar- 

 rived at a point 187 miles from the coast of Ireland, where the 

 final splice was to be made with the cable previously laid from 

 the Irish coast by the steamship Cambria. At some points the 

 new cable was laid at a depth of nearly three miles below the 

 surface of the sea. The quantities of material used were 1,411,- 

 200 pounds of copper ; 799,688 pounds of Gutta percha , 16,845.- 

 000 pounds of brass tape, jupe, yarn, iron wire, and preservative 

 compound. The cost of the cables varied from $1000 to $6000 

 per mile, according to the different requirements at different 

 depths and character of the ocean bed. The signal and speed 

 of this cable is said to be 15 per cent, greater than that of any 

 other cable of equal length in the Atlantic. The two transat- 

 lantic cables of the Deutsche- Atlantische Telegraphen-Gesell- 

 schaft between Germany and New York work in direct connec- 

 tion with the lines of the Postal Telegraph Cable Co., which 

 gives the system 7 ocean lines, all duplexed so that their com- 

 bined capacity is 14 messages at one time. 



