88 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, 1908. 



A YEAR OF TAXICABS IN NEW YORK. 



■ I "HE first anniversary of the successful introduction of the 

 •*• taxicab in Xew York was celebrated on the evening of Sep- 

 tember 31, when Mr. Henry N. Allen, president of the New York 

 Taxi-Cab Co., gave a dinner to the company's employes at the 

 Harlem Casino. A number of well-known automobilists were 

 present by invitation. The New York Times, in an editorial 

 reference to the event, said : 



"A year ago we had no taxicabs. Now it seems as if we had 

 always had them, so easily have they fitted into the traffic of 

 the town, and so generally have they been used. Generally, that 

 is to say, in proportion to their number. Though the supply 

 has been trebled or quadrupled in the year, there are still not 

 nearly enough to meet the demand. We need many more taxi- 

 cabs. The swift-running, comparatively inexpensive motorcar 

 has transformed the cab business of New York, and nearly sup- 

 pressed the nuisance of the guerrilla cab. It has taught people 

 not to submit to e,xtortion." 



The article in the Times concludes : "There have been sur- 

 prisingly few complaints of the taxicabs. In time they will sup- 

 plant the horse-drawn cab altogether, and the fares will be 

 cheaper than they are now." 



The anniversary was further celebrated by the announcement 

 that in future patrons would be charged only for the actual time 

 that the taxicabs were in service — nothing for the time con- 

 sumed in getting to the patron, telephoning for a vehicle, or in 

 the return to the garage. 



It is announced from Paris that 300,000 preferred, participating 

 ordinary shares of the New York Motor Cab Co., Limited 

 (head offices in London), have been registered for stamp duty 

 there as from February 11, 1908, which means the official recog- 

 nition of dealings in the shares on the Paris bourse. A similar 

 announcement is made regarding 60,000 deferred i shilling shares. 

 The London company mentioned is the parent company of the 

 New York Taxi-Cab Co. [See The India Rubber World, July 

 I, 1908 — page 328; September i, 1908 — page 411.] 



In the New York supreme court an injunction has been 

 issued restraining the Hotel Manhattan from using the cabs of 

 any concern but the New York Taxi-Cab Co. It was alleged 

 that in November, 1907, the hotel company gave to the cab 

 company an exclusive right for five years to maintain a taxicab 

 cab service at the hotel, and that the agreement was terminated 

 by the hotel in August. 



THE TAXICAB INTEREST IN EUROPE. 



A T the second annual meeting of the General Motor Cab Co., 

 ** Limited (London, September 14), the chairman, Mr. Davi- 

 son Dalziel, said that from the point of view of public con- 

 venience, the introduction of the motor cab has probably proved 

 one of the most popular innovations of modern times. This as- 

 sertion is all the more interesting because London was, of all 

 cities, the one where the horse-drawn cab seemed the most 

 firmly established. Mr. Dalziel expressed the conviction, based 

 upon two years' experience, that large companies, such as his, 

 had nothing to fear from the competition of small companies, 

 operating only a few cabs each. His company had found it 

 necessary, in the interest of economical management, to pro- 

 vide their own garages, repair shops, and the like — for which 

 they had expended to date nearly £200,000. The smaller com- 

 panies could hardly meet corresponding expenditures. 

 ■ The capital of the General Motor Cab Co., dating from Au- 

 gust I, is il,oo6,ooo [=$4,895,699]. Dividends on the preferred 

 ordinary shares for the fiscal period ended July 31 (about 14 

 months), aggregated 13 per cent, on the ordinary preferred 

 shares and los. yd. each on the 60,000 deferred i-shilling shares. 

 There are important French holdings in this company, and the 

 shares are listed on the Paris Bourse. [See The Indi.a Rubber 

 World, August i, 1908 — page 375.] 



The General Motor Cab Co. have large interest in the Pro- 

 vincial Motor Cab Co., formed to operate motor cabs in all the 

 principal British towns, having made a beginning already in 

 Manchester, Sheffield, and several other cities. 



The most pronounced tendency in Parisian taxicab circles is 

 towards the adoption of two-cylinder cabs of a lower power 

 than has hitherto been employed [says London Motor Tracidon]. 

 Experience has shown that most of the specially designed four- 

 cylinder cabs, and all the standard touring chassis fitted with a 

 cab body, were unnecessarily powerful for city work, with the 

 result that tire, and fuel, and general maintenance expenses were 

 too high to assure a reasonable amount of profit. 



NETHERLANDS GUTTA-PERCHA CO. 



THE Nederlandsche Gutta-Pcrcha Maatschappij (Netherlands 

 Gutta-Percha Co.) report for the business year 1907 a deficit 

 of 101,661.15}^ florins, which, added to the former deficit, brought 

 the total to 249,358.57}^ florins [=$100,242.14^]. The deficit 

 for 1907 includes 13,001. 32v4 florins written oflt for depreciation. 

 The directors state that the decline in selling prices of gutta- 

 percha caused a loss as to the product in stock at the beginning 

 of the year. There were large expenditures in starting the 

 rubber goods factory at Singapore, already mentioned in The 

 India Rubber World. The hope is entertained that better condi- 

 tions will now prevail. Additional capital has been provided, and 

 profits are looked for from the Singapore plant, as well as from 

 the leaf gutta business, which is the primary object of the com- 

 pany. The idea is being considered of manufacturing goods from 

 the company's own raw product. The gutta-percha plantations 

 were extended to 285 bouws [^402.82 acres], and 15 bouws have 

 been planted to Hcveci rubber — about 20,000 trees, which number 

 this year is to be increased to 75,000. The greater part of the 

 gutta-percha has been interplanted with Cinchona (quinine), and 

 5,500 florins, net, was derived during the year from the sale of 

 bark. The plantations are in southwest Java, and the administra- 

 tion in Holland. 



SANDMANN'S PROCESS FOR LATEX. 



T yXDER a recent patent [British, No. 10,848, 1907] granted to 

 ^^ D. Sandmann, of Germany, lactescent plant juices are treated 

 with substances containing fluorine, so that india-rubber and 

 the like rapidly coagulate and separate, and fermentation of 

 the sugar substances in the juices also takes place. A dilute 

 solution of hydrofluoric acid, about one-fourth of I per cent., is 

 added to the rubber milk and thoroughly mixed with it. .\fter 

 several hours the rubber comes to the surface, while the fermented 

 substances remain in solution. The rubber is then placed in a 

 press and the moisture forced out. A 10 per cent, solution of 

 silico-fluoric acid may be used in the proportion of 5 cubic cen- 

 timeters to I liter of crude sap. Acid salts of hydrofluoric acid, 

 such as potassium or sodium fluoride, or silico-fluoride of po- 

 tassium, sodium or zinc, may be used either in solution or 

 added in the solid state to the sap. The alcohol caused by 

 the fermentation promotes tlie coagulation of the rubber. 



VISIT OF A RUBBER EXPERT TO AFRICA. 



[from "the AFRICAN MAIL," LIVERPOOL.] 



■XV/E learn that there is a strong probability of Professor 

 '* Robert Thompson paying a visit to West Africa very 

 shortly. His object will be to deliver a series of lectures on 

 rubber cultivation. It augurs well for the future agricultural 

 development of the country that the European expert should 

 make a point of educating the native farmer to the standard of 

 the home market. What with cocoa, rubber, vegetable and bo- 

 tanical research, the farmer looks like having an intellectually 

 busy lime in the future. 



