384 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1913. 



of the principal manufacturers. It will be submitted to the 

 legislature through the Custom House Bureau of Finance. 

 Mr. Ernest E. Buckleton, who has been visiting Japan in the 

 interests of his company, the Northwestern Rubber Co., 

 Litherland, Liverpool, England, as well as various Japanese 

 manufacturers, advocate the freedom from duty of reclaimed 

 rubber, but they in some cases fear a repetition of the at- 

 tempt to import as reclaimed rubber an unvulcanized com- 

 pound, the separate ingredients of which would pay from S 

 per cent, to 20 per cent. 



JAPANESE CRUDE RUBBER IMPORT STATISTICS. 

 Official Japanese statistics show the followinR comparative 

 results for the last three years: 



Pounds. Value. 



1910 1,S80,91S $1,515,093 



1911 2,054.864 1,530,008 



1912 2,004,010 1,514,560 



The quantities for 1911 and 1912, it will be remarked, are 

 about equal, and in each case represent an increase of about 

 25 per cent, on the figures of 1910. Owing to the depreciation 

 of the article in the two later years, the value still remained 

 about the same. 



THE CHINESE MARKET FOR RUBBER GOODS. 



A WRITER in a recent issue of the "Gummi-Zeitung," dis- 

 ^* courses at some length upon the fact that the German 

 rubber trade — and particularly the rubber footwear trade — has not 

 been able to make any conspicuous progress in the Chinese 

 market. In this particular the German rubber trade does not 

 stand alone. The American rubber trade has enjoyed no 

 very glittering success in this direction. 



For instance, in the line of rubber footwear, American ex- 

 ports of boots and shoes to China are noticeably smaller 

 now than they were some years ago. Nine or ten years ago 



Chinese Sandal. 



some of the American manufacturers of rubber footwear made 

 a special Chinese rubber shoe, similar in shape to the ordinary 

 sandal that the Chinaman wears,, with a pointed rising toe, 

 thick sole without heel, and without any arch. The accom- 

 panying cuts show some of the styles manufactured for 

 Mongolian consumption. At one time this trade reached the 



Chinese Sandal with Low Heel. 



fair proportions of 200,000 or 250,000 pairs a year, with a net 

 value to the American manufacturer of from $65,000 to 

 $85,000. These shoes were made at a very low price, so that 

 the Chinaman could get a pair at retail at a price in the 

 neighborhood of 50 cents. But that was when crude rubber 

 was considerably lower than it is now, and with the rise in 

 the price of rubber, and the consequent mcrease in the price 

 of manufactured goods, the Chinaman went back to his 

 native shoes and dropped the American-made Chinese 



"golosh"; so that now the value of American-made rubbers 

 going to China is very small. 



The voluminous book on statistics, called "Commerce and 

 Navigation of the United States," issued by the Department 

 of Commerce and Labor, gives the following valuation of 

 American rubbers sold to China for the last five years: 



1907 3,850 pairs $4,414 



1908 2,055 pairs 2,360 



1909 386 pairs 416 



1910 385 pairs 447 



1911 318 pairs 620 



This certainly is nothing to boast about. 



The entire rubber exports (including all articles) for the last 

 three years as given by the same authority are as follows: 



1909. 1910. 1911. 



Belting, hose and packing $10,172 $12,265 $12,372 



Boots and shoes 461 447 620 



Tires for automobiles. .. Not specified Not specified 590 



Other tires Not specified Not specified 38 



All other goods 6,455 7,125 4,883 



The automobile is seen daily in Chinese cities, more and 

 more of them being constantly purchased by rich Chinese 

 merchants. Solid tires are being used in an increasing scale. 



Chinese Gaiter. 



particularly in connection with the improvement in the char- 

 acter of the rickshaws used. 



Rubber goods are likewise profiting by the extension of 

 demand for railway and electrical purposes. 



There is also a demand for rubber rings in Shanghai, for 

 use in preserving fruit for the European market. 



BALATA industry and rubber planting in BEITISH GUIANA. 



At the opening of the Combined Court of the Colony of Brit- 

 ish Guiana, the Governor referred to the promotion of Mr. 

 F. A. Stockdale. the -Assistant Director of Science and Agricul- 

 ture, to the post of Director of Agriculture of the Island of 

 Mauritius, and to the appointment in his place of Mr. Keith Ban- 

 croft, of the Federated Malay States Agricultural Department; 

 upon which he congratulated Professor Harrison. He added : 



"I trust that Mr. Bancroft may be able to take up the im- 

 portant question of investigating the best method of extracting 

 the latex of the balata tree and also that the weight of his 

 opinion may be used to induce planters in this colony to more 

 seriously consider the planting of Para rubber. I have inspected 

 several estates and small plantations of this product but no- 

 where have I found the necessary care and attention being 

 given to the planted area. This is a great disappointment to 

 me, for the few trees I have seen properly attended to prove, 

 as might be expected, that this tree grows here as freely and 

 satisfactorily as in the Eastern Hemisphere." 



