December i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



81 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



WATERPROOF 

 TRADE. 



THERE is very little of a satisfactory nature to be said 

 with regard to this branch. The depression of the last 

 two years still continues and no signs of its immediate 

 removal are discernible. One result of this is that those 

 firms who formerly relied altogether upon this branch are ex- 

 tending into others, such as mechanical rubber. 

 THE or branches of the tailoring trade having no 



connection with waterproofing. A combination 

 of adverse factors has militated against the 

 home trade, more especially in the north of England ; in addi- 

 tion to the extremely dry summer and autumn, there has been 

 the decreased buying power of the operatives, owing to the de- 

 pression in the cotton trade and various other trades which 

 depend largely upon the staple trade for their well-being. 

 What business has been done has been chiefly with the British 

 colonies, though even here, notably in Canada, the demand is 

 reported as having fallen off to a considerable extent. Pattern 

 books are now being got out for next season, but these will not 

 show the variety and range of materials that characterized 

 them a few years ago. Now that the cotton trade is in for 

 something of the nature of a boom there will undoubtedly be a 

 larger sale of the low priced goods, both macintoshes and the 

 showy looking overcoats made entirely of shoddy and to which 

 the description of "shower proof" is erroneously applied. 

 Firms who turn out really good stuff answering to its title of 

 shower proof say that they get no encouragement, because the 

 particular style and pattern is speedily copied by some one else 

 in inferior materials and at a price which proves an irresistible 

 attraction to the bulk of purchasers. The workingman seems 

 to have satisfied himself that two or three suits of shoddy form 

 a superior purchase to one suit of good wool and as long as 

 this doctrine obtains there is nothing for the merchant to do 

 but to minister to it. With regard to factory equipment it is 

 interesting to note that in the enlarged town premises to which 

 Messrs. H. L. Gotliffe & Co. moved some little time ago, in 

 Blossom street, Ancoats, Manchester, the sewing machines are 

 all worked by electricity. The whole of the machines and the 

 five motors are of American origin, being supplied by the 

 Singer Manufacturing Co., the installation I understand giving 

 complete satisfaction. I believe I am right in saying that elec- 

 trical power is used by the Leyland and Birmingham Rubber 

 Co. for a similar purpose, though I am unaware of its applica- 

 tion elsewhere in the waterproofing trade. 



As the Scandinavian rubber manufacture has recently been 

 specially referred to in this Journal, it may be of interest to 

 add a word or two with regard to the waterproof business. So 

 far none of the Scandinavian manufacturers have taken up 

 this branch, and the British houses which have done business 

 in the past have not suffered from home competition. What 

 business has been done is not on a very extensive scale, and in 

 common with what has occurred elsewhere the macintosh 

 shows a decline rather than an increase in popularity. It has 

 never been popular to the extent that was witnessed a few 

 years ago in Holland, when certain English makers reaped a 

 rich harvest. It is not difficult to account for this ; in the first 

 place, compared with Holland, the bulk of the Scandinavian 

 people are poor and limit their expenditure prettv well to ne- 

 cessities, and in the second place, though there is a good deal 

 of rain in summer, the climate during the major part of the 



TIRE INTERESTS. 



year is very severe and the macintosh garment does not prove 

 sufficiently attractive on the score of warmth. As far as the 

 trade is concerned it is recognized that the article is more 

 suited to mean climes than to those where summer heats or 

 winter colds are excessive and permanent. 



1 u.VDKRSTAND that a movement is on foot to consolidate 

 the interests of the principal tire manufacturers, as far as the 

 regulation of prices is concerned. There is 

 to be no attempt at an effective combination 

 of works, the proposed arrangement only going as far as that 

 which has been in existence so long among the makers of elas- 

 tic thread and which proved thoroughly workable. Having 

 regard to the larger number of firms engaged in tire making, 

 the difficulties in the present case may reasonably be expected 

 to be greater and, it may turn out, insuperable, but there is little 

 to be gained by speculating on the point. It is quite clearthat 

 if close competition among the various manufacturers is to take 

 place the profits yielded by the business are not likely to prove 

 remunerative, and a combination to the extent foreshadowed 

 above will at any rate do something to keep up quality. There 

 is not much information obtainable as to the proposed English 

 Michelin company, though it is understood that the site for the 

 factory is in the London district. From the tone of remarks in 

 some of our papers the incursion of French capital and prob- 

 ably of French workmen in this connection is not looked upon 

 with much favor. Of course the retort may be made that fac- 

 tories for various kinds of businesses have been started on the 

 Continent under British auspices, but the cases are not exactly 

 parallel. It is the imposition of prohibitive tariffs that has in- 

 duced such action on the part of the British, while with our 

 free trade the same cannot be urged on behalf of foreigners es- 

 tablishing themselves in this country. 



Quite a modern development in the motor tire business is in 

 relation to omnibuses for town and country use. Within the 

 last lew months motor omnibus services have been started in 

 London and Birmingham, and also by some of the railway com- 

 panies as feeders to their lines in country districts. Notably is 

 this the case with the Great Western railway, in Cornwall. The 

 tires generally — indeed, I think I am correct in saying exclu- 

 sively — used are the twin motor tires patented and manufac- 

 tured by the Shrewsbury & Challiner Tyre Co., of Ardwick, 

 Manchester. These are designed to support heavy weights and 

 prevent sideslip, an important point in towns such as Birming- 

 ham, where several steep hills have to be negotiated. I under- 

 stand that though one or two cases of slip occurred in this 

 town on the first introduction of the omnibuses, this was found 

 to be due to the position of the treading (?) wheels rather than 

 to any defect in the tires. Since the position of the wheels 

 has been slightly altered no further contretemps of the kind 

 has occurred. No doubt this form of locomotion will become 

 increasingly popular, and the firm who have already established 

 such a name in connection with the necessary tires would seem 

 to be in for an exceedingly busy time. 



As the subject of Guttapercha has achieved some promi- 

 nence in recent issues of The India Rubber World, it may 

 not be superfluous to say a word here re- 



THE GUTTA-PERCHA garding its preparation from the leaves of 



MANUFACTURE ° & V v 



the tree. As is well known this method 

 of procuring it formed the subject of several patents some 



