January r, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



131 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE LANCASHIRE 

 COnON TRADE. 



THE great cotton strike which lasted for seven weeks and 

 led to the closing down of 400 mills, came to an end 

 on November 6, largely owing to the good offices of 

 the mayors of Darwen and Salford, the latter, Alderman 

 Frankenburg, being a well known rubber manufacturer. There 

 has been some giving way on both sides, 

 but the masters have got the s per cent, 

 reduction in wages, only this does not 

 take effect until March l, instead of at once. The cessation of 

 the strike is of course a good thing for many besides the opera- 

 tives immediately concerned, but it must not be assumed that the 

 prevalent depression in trade, and more particularly in the cotton 

 trade, is likely to show any rapid improvement. The world is 

 still replete with goods manufactured at high prices during the 

 past boom, and in all probability the mills will continue to run on 

 short time as was the case before the strike. The rubber works 

 are of course large buyers of cotton cloth and prices have been 

 recently in their favor; their trade interest in the strike has refer-. 

 ence to the sale of the various mechanical rubber goods used by 

 the cotton mills and associated industries, and salesmen will be 

 glad that an exceptionally slack period has come to an end. An 

 important matter which is against the staple Lancashire industry 

 at the moment is the very low silver exchange, curtailing the de- 

 mand from the great Eastern markets of China and India, on 

 which Lancashire so largely depends. Mr. Frankeriburg, who has' 

 been mayor of Salford for three years in succession, has now 

 retired from that position, which he has admittedly filled with 

 credit and distinction. Under the heading "The Cotton Goods 

 Market" in the November issue of The India RireBER World, I* 

 read that the position betokens a supply of cotton unequal to the 

 demand. At the moment, looking at the position of the Man- 

 chester trade — worse, experts say, than it has been for 40 years 

 — it is rather difficult to accept the statement, as regards Ameri- 

 can cotton at all events. 



The address given at the recent Rubber Exhibition at Olympia 

 by Dr. P. Schidrowitz on the relations between the manufac- 

 turer and the consumer, raises one or 

 two questions which seem to call for 

 consideration, and this quite outside the 

 strict subject matter of the lecture. The author has of late years 

 given a good deal of attention to rubber analysis and has no 

 doubt gone to considerable expense in fitting up his experimental 

 laboratory. Now I may be wrong, but I am presuming that his 

 actions are not primarily based on Benthamist motives, though 

 he may to some extent have the interests of the trade at heart. 

 It strikes me, in view of the secretiveness displayed by the works 

 chemist as regards experimental work and analysis, that Dr. 

 Schidrowitz is giving away rather too much to those who will 

 give nothing in return for the information and help. Any 

 methods for physical testing, which he may devise or elaborate, 

 will be examined and taken over as a free gift by others who will 

 utilize them to advantage. I remember that Dr. Weber was 

 always inveighing against what he called the miserable policy 

 of secrecy and silence adopted by the chemists of our large rubber 

 works ; they read what was published with avidity and con- 

 tributed nothing to contemporary literature. Of course with 

 regard to this point of publication one has to remember that the 

 consulting chemist is his own master and the works chemist is 

 not. The latter has his policy dictated to him and it is a safe 

 assumption that in the majority of cases he is requested to 

 abstain from appearing in print or on the platform. Dr. Weber 

 had many a hit at rubber trade secrets, but although there may 

 not be many of real value now existent, still there is a good 



TRADE SECRETS 

 AND AUTHORS. 



deal about works procedure which individual firms conceive it 

 to be their interest to keep to themselves and no one will blame 

 their conservatism. It is particularly noticeable that in the course 

 of his paper Dr. Schidrowitz hauled himself up once or twice 

 somewhat abruptly when he came to points which had come 

 before ,him in his consultative capacity and which he was not 

 at liberty to enlarge upon. The rubber trade, it seems to me, 

 will continue to show aloofness among its individual members, 

 and although there are outside enthusiasts who think that manu- 

 facturers should meet and discuss matters on the lines of the 

 Iron and Steel Institute or newly formed Institute of Metal, 

 I don't see much chance of the suggestion coming to fruition. 

 Dr. Obach published his work on Gutta-percha when he was 

 with Messrs. Siemens, but I cannot call to mind anything else in 

 the way of a book coming from the inner recesses of any of our 

 rubber factories. The tendency has been in the other direction. 



The interesting article which appeared under this title from 

 the pen of Mr. Ira W. Henry in The India Rubber World for 

 GROWTH OF THE October suggests one or two remarks by 

 INSULATED WIRE Way of Comparison with this country. 

 INDUSTRY. Xhe reference made to existing specifi- 



cations of various authorities for rubber insulation indicate a 

 state of affairs not yet reached in this country. Certainly the 

 various types of insulated wires, especially in the case of flexibles, 

 are standardized in this country. Moreover, we have a Cable 

 Makers' Association, the members of which guarantee that all 

 wires bearing the union label are of first-class quality. There is 

 not, however, any agreement among the manufacturers as to 

 the precise mixing to be employed. If I read Mr. Henry's article 

 right the Americans are bound to work to a standard of 40 or 

 other percentage of Para, the reference to the admixture of dry 

 mineral water is presumably an error. There may be some rigid 

 specifications of the sort in existence here, but in the bulk of 

 work the firms turning out union or best quality cables have 

 their own mixings. What the buyers do not altogether approve 

 of in the present situation is the practical agreement as to price, 

 and in one case at any rate an order has gone out of the country 

 as the quotations obtained from various firms were exactly the 

 same. In other cases surprise has been expressed at the close 

 approximation of prices where the insulations differed consider- 

 ably in value. Mr. Henry refers to the chemical testing which is 

 in vogue in America; in the interests of fair trading it is to be 

 hoped that this is punctiliously carried out. With regard to the 

 prospective increase in the use of rubber insulation, I think that 

 mining purposes might have been included. The demand for 

 flexibles and other small diameter cables will assuredly increase 

 largely, but the bare conductor system for modern high voltages 

 will continue to displace rubber in one of its former important 

 applications. Rubber insulation is referred to as being largely 

 used by the telephone companies. In this country rubber and 

 gutta-percha have been largely displaced by paper insulation, the 

 strands being carried in a lead tube, the air in which is kept dry 

 by sulphuric acid. It certainly seems rather anomalous that old 

 rubber insulation should continue to be burnt off the wires in the 

 present year of grace. I would not go so far as to say that none 

 of it is ever recovered. A good deal has been recovered by hand 

 labor in England, and at least one special machine has been built 

 to do the work and has given satisfactory results. 



At the meeting held in London on November 27 a dividend of 



100 per cent, was declared — the same as last year — and this 



despite the somewhat adverse conditions 



THE DUNLOp experienced in the motor and cvcle 



RUBBER CO. , _, . , ,. ■ ,. 



trades. The particular trading condi- 



