May 



1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER "WORLD 



251 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



AT 

 LEYLAND. 



PROBABLY in none of our rubber works has so much 

 activity in the way of extensions been apparent in re- 

 cent years as in the case of the Leyland and Birming- 

 ham Rubber Cos., Limited. In an important respect 

 this company is more fortunately situated than are the great 

 majority of others engaged in the manufacture ; I 

 EXTENSIONS refer to the isolated position in which the works 

 stand and the easy terms on which additional 

 ground space can be acquired for extensions. This 

 is due to the foresight of Mr. Baxter, who now finds himself in 

 a good position, not only for obtaining the necessary land, but 

 also in having at disposal an unlimited water supply at a nom- 

 inal cost, if indeed at any cost at all. The main idea on which 

 the extensions have been carried out is to have one story build- 

 ings, so as to avoid the labor and delay incidental to stairs or 

 lifts in the moving of goods from one department to another 

 during manufacture. One of the new buildings certainly is a 

 two storied one, but this is the exception and not the rule. A 

 great feature at the Leyland works is the extensive application 

 of electricity as a motive power for light work ; motors are to 

 be found scattered about the buildings to be put in use as occa- 

 sion requires. In the garment department all the sewing 

 machines are run by this agency, an instance where it is par- 

 ticularly appropriate. Needless to say, where there is power 

 there is also light, the incandescent lamp being a prominent 

 feature of the workrooms. Not that artificial light is needed 

 in these works to anything like the extent that it has to be re- 

 sorted to in the dingy town surroundings of many of our rubber 

 works, and this is a circumstance for which the Leyland and 

 similarly situated works have cause to be thankful. In connec- 

 tion with power the capabilities of the large gas engine have 

 been recognized by the management, and it may be taken for 

 granted that the potentialities of Mond gas will not be lost sight 

 of, its undoubted assistance in keeping down the coal bill being 

 a matter that admits of no cavi); that is, as far as large con- 

 sumers of coal are concerned. With regard to rubber works, the 

 use of Mond gas will depend largely upon the fact of the works 

 being situated in the proposed areas of supply or not. 



Without wishing in any way to adopt a didactic tone in 



what I say, or to put any particular firm or firms in the pillory 



of denunciation, it yet seems advisable for the best 



CUTTING interests of the trade generally to say a word or 



OF PRICES. J. . ° ^ ' 



two regarding a special phase of existing compe- 

 tition. This is with respect to getting orders — at any price 

 Horace says " Make money, honestly if you can, but at any rate 

 make it," and it really would seem that in the light of some of. 

 the transactions which have occurred of late in our trade this 

 dictum might be paraphrased thus : " Get orders, at a profit if 

 you can, but at any rate get them." Now it is clear that such 

 procedure cannot be defended on either ethical or strict busi- 

 ness grounds. It may do something towards keeping a mill 

 going and in finding work for those who need it, but it can 

 only spell disaster in the long run. It means the divergence 

 of orders from firms who do not approve of this sort of policy 

 to firms whose financial position gains a luster for the move- 

 ment to which it is not strictly entitled. There have been 

 cases where a " rocky " concern has inspired confidence in 

 trade circles by reason of advertising the extent and impor- 

 tance of the contracts it has on hand, whereas if the truth 



were known regarding the prices at which such contracts were 

 obtained, there would be an ipso facto reason against giving 

 such firms too much credit. It is of course a common axiom 

 in trade that it is advisable to take up certain business, even if 

 at a loss, and to neutralize this loss by reaping extra profits 

 on other orders, but without stopping to inquire into the fal- 

 lacy of this argument it may be laid down that it does not pro- 

 vide for contingencies such as failing by unexpected competi- 

 tion to obtain the necessary extra profits, and it is well known 

 that procedure on such lines has rarely commanded the respect 

 of first class business houses. 



As far as I can make out there seems no future for this ball 

 in Great Britain. Not that there is anything said against it ; 

 it is merely because the players do not recognize 

 golf'^b^a^ll ^'^^^ ^^^ slight advantage in driving power, which 

 they readily acknowledge, is worth the extra price 

 they are called upon to pay for the ball. It is felt that the 

 claims upon the golfer's purse are as it is quite heavy enough 

 without going to more than a shilling for a ball, and this feel- 

 ing will doubtless prevail to the detriment of the new ball. 



In the Berichte, the organ of the German Chemical Society 



( No. 34-1901 ) appears a paper by Professor C. Harries of Berlin 



University on the behavior of nitrous acid to 



ACTION OF crude rubber. As the matter is purely one of 



NITROUS ACID . .^ . J . . , V 3 



ON RUBBER. Scientific interest, and is without technical bear- 

 ing. I do not propose to occupy my limited space 

 by discussing it. Why I mention it at all is because Dr. Weber 

 has been working independently at the same subject and has, I 

 understand, obtained figures which coincide with those pub- 

 lished by Professor Harries. Scientific men are apt to tumble 

 over one another in their eagerness to claim priority in matters 

 upon which the man in the street casts an indifferent eye and 

 it may be, therefore, that the amicable arrangement which I 

 believe has been come to between the two chemists mentioned 

 as to further publications regarding the action of the oxy-acids 

 of nitrogen on rubber will arouse no more than transient in- 

 terest even in the breast of the rubber manufacturer. But this 

 whether or nj the circumstances of the case ought perhaps to 

 be known, and the columns of The India Rubber World 

 naturally suggest themselves as the correct medium for their 

 dissemination. Apropos of the subject, I may add that nitric 

 oxide, or the red fumes which are given off by fuming nitric 

 acid, have long found a limited application in the rubber trade. 

 This is in connection with the curing of rubber in chloride of 

 sulphur vapors, a small quantity of the nitric acid being added 

 to expedite the volatilization of the chloride of sulphur. At 

 east this is the explanation given by those who use the acid ; 

 possibly the nitric fumes themselves help in some subtle way 

 in the vulcanization, because their action on rubber is most 

 energetic, and, it may be added, if allowed to proceed for more 

 than a few minutes, most disastrous. 



The subject of the atrocities stated to have taken place in 



connection with rubber gathering in this region continues to 



attract attention in our papers, and not 



RUBBER only under sensational headlines in the 



FROM THE J , L ■ , , / > ■ ■ ■ 



CONGO FREE STATE Qaiiy press, but in thoughtful articles in 

 such papers as the Spectator. It must be 

 confessed that somewhat conflicting evidence has been ad- 

 duced, but all the same to the unprejudiced mind there seems 



