January i, 1933 ] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



119 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE idea current in many minds that we were in for a 

 long era of low prices in raw rubber must be pretty 

 well dispelled by this time, having regard to the up- 

 ward movement of the last few weeks. The rise in 

 Para rubber is attributed by Liverpool brokers to the increased 

 demand in the United States, in conjunction with 

 RAW the shortage due to the Acre troubles. But what- 

 RUBBER gygr j[jg reason the situation remains, and manufac- 



PRICES. 



turersare not consoling themselves with the thought 

 that the upward tendency is due to any sudden or temporary 

 market disturbance. It is not at all certain that a continued 

 drop in prices would have had an unequivocal welcoming, be- 

 cause it had begun to be recognized that the public might with 

 some show of reason clamor for a reduction in the price of goods. 

 As to how far such reductions have already been conceded it is 

 difficult to speak with any degree of certainty. The Silver- 

 town company in their annual report put down a reduction in 

 profit to lower selling prices, rather than to reduced turn over. 

 This large concern, it should be remembered, is, like the North 

 British Rubber Co., outside the India-rubber Manufacturers 

 Association, and so is at perfect liberty to follow out its own 

 inclinations with regard to the price list. With regard to the 

 high price ruling for Gutta-percha, this is hardly surprising, 

 taken in conjunction with the new submarine cable schemes in 

 hand and on paper. Certainly Gentsch's Gutta-percha substi- 

 tute has arrived at an opportune time to have its lauded claims 

 to recognition carefully investigated by experts. I am not in a 

 position to speak at first hand concerning the reported dicov- 

 ery of Gjtta-percha by Colonel Sparkes in the Bahr-el Ghazal, 

 but I cannot help feeling extremely sceptical as to the product 

 being Gutta-percha at all. This of course does not detract 

 from the importance of Colonel Sparkes's discoveries in other 

 directions, concerning which I hope to be shortly in a position 

 to speak at greater length. 



Although dealers and agents in these goods can be said to 

 have done better during last year than have their brethren de- 

 voted solely to the original macintosh, yet they 

 RAINPROOF ^j.g j^gjy complaining of the war of competition. 



GARMENTS. uj j ,/j 



At first these goods were made only of good qual- 

 ity miterial, and sold at corresponding prices ; now, however, 

 they are being retailed as low as 8 shillings 6 pence each, and 

 as an agent informs me difficult to sell at that. The business, 

 he said, is not what it was, and in his opinion it portended a 

 return of the macintosh to public favor, a consummation 

 which would be entirely to his liking. Certainly the proofing 

 trade has passed through a period of depression and anxiety 

 of late which has had no parallel for many years and the turn 

 of the tide is eagerly awaited. 



Two contributions have recently been made to the theoreti- 

 cal side of our trade interests, though neither of them call for 

 more than bare reference here, owing to their 



THEORETICAL non-technical bearing. Professor C. Harries, of 



CHEMISTRY- „ ,. , l j , ^ r-, ■ , 



Berlin, ras contributed to the German Chemical 

 Society a further paper on the chemistry of Para rubber, the 

 action of nitrous acid being specially studied. The other paper is 

 by Sir William Ramsay, entitled " Experiments in the chemi- 

 cal behavior of Gutta-percha." This paper was read before 

 the London Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, 

 though it is of the sort which is usually presented to the 



Chemical Society. Professor Ramsay is of course one of our 

 foremost chemists, and what he has to say must naturally at- 

 tract attention, though his connection with the defunct Gutta- 

 percha Corporation was not altogether a happy one. He says 

 that it is now time both for scientific and commercial reasons 

 that bodies belonging to the class of Gutta-percha and India- 

 rubber should be brought under the domain of structural 

 chemistry, though he acknowledges that the subject is a very 

 difficult one. It does not seem advisable to occupy space by 

 attempting a summary of the paper, and I shall leave the sub- 

 ject by remarking that the short discussion was notable from 

 the fact that Mr. John Spiller. who has since 1865 been known 

 in connection with Spiller's resin, took part in it, and that Dr. 

 C. O. Weber was absent. 



Without attempting in any way to give a complete report 

 of the numerous exhibits at the 1902 show held at the Agricul- 

 tural Hall, London, in November, I shall, as on previ- 

 STANLEY ous occasions, refer, as far as space will allow, to the 

 ''^''''^ exhibits of our rubber manufacturers. The stress of 



SHOW. 



competition is doubtless responsible for the evolution 

 of the illustrated price list; with the majority of the tire com- 

 panies this now takes the form of a booklet tastefully got up 

 and containing, besides some general notes on the nature and 

 manufacture of the tires, some extraneous information of utility 

 to riders. From an artistic point of view, as well as from the 

 encyclopedic nature of their contents, the booklets issued this 

 year must, I feel sure, recoup the efforts put forth in their con- 

 struction, though the cyclist who proposes to take more than 

 one or two in his pocket will be adding seriously to his dead 

 weight. About the Bartlett-Clincher tire of the North British 

 Rubber Co., Limited, there is really nothing new to say; this 

 is still made in the three grades— A-won, " B " and " C," the 

 last being made of red rubber in order that it may not be con- 

 fused with the others. To judge by what one reads in the lists 

 of other firms, the statement of the North British company that 

 as far as observation goes their A tire is the only one that can 

 correctly be described as being made entirely of Pard rubber, is 

 open to challenge, but there is of course a good deal of merit 

 in the qualifying clajjse "as far as observation goes." The 

 Palmer Tyre Co., of Birmingham, had a good exhibit of their 

 well known tire, which is made for them at the Silvertown 

 works, under license of the North British Rubber Co. Special 

 qualities are claimed for the fabric employed, this being woven 

 in a manner which no other firm has been able to imitate. The 

 road maps issued in the booklet of this firm will no doubt prove 

 of great utility to riders. A novelty of this season is the motor 

 cycle tire, for which a specially strong make of the Palmer fab- 

 ric is employed. At the stand of the " Camel " tire, the progress 

 made since Messrs. Reddaway,of Pendleton, took up the manu- 

 facture was demonstrated. The "Camel" tire is made in two 

 distinct types, "wired" and "wireless," each being sold in 

 three qualities: the Special made of Bolivian Para; the First 

 grade made of the highest quality pure Pard. The rubber in 

 the third grade, or " Camel " tire pure and simple, is stated to 

 be of excellent quality. It is noticeable that Messrs. Reddaway 

 announce that they will defend any actions brought against 

 dealers by firms who allege infringement. The Clipper Tyre 

 Co., of Coventry, exhibit referred especially to the motor car 

 and motor cycle tires, they being the salesmen in England of 



