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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i, 1902. 



THE GRADING OF BALATA. 



T N the last India Rubber World appeared a communica- 

 ■^ tion from a manufacturer suggesting the desirability of a 

 closer grading of Balata. There has since been received a 

 letter from a house in Europe, engaged to an important extent 

 in handling Balata, from which we quote: 



" We have had considerable experience in sheet Balata, par- 

 ticularly in the Surinam product, and we must say that as far 

 as Surinam sheet Balata is concerned, we have found the 

 quality as a whole very regular and reliable. Two years ago 

 there appeared some very thick sheets, which were not entirely 

 coagulated at the thickest spots, and of course this was not 

 desirable, as the milky stuff inside flowed off when the Balata 

 passed through the rolls, but measures were at once taken in 

 Surinam to prevent this, and we have since had no reason for 

 complaints. 



" At times we find some sheets which have a sandy surface 

 on one side, which comes from the collectors not drying the 

 Balata upon leaves, as should be done, but upon the sand. It 

 appears that in some instances this is unavoidable ; besides it 

 is of little importance as affecting the quality of the Balata, 

 and buyers do not object to it, for this reason : They know that 

 there are some sandy sheets, and make their calculations ac- 

 cordingly. It is only a matter of loss in washing, for the sand 

 is not mixed with the Balata, only adhering to the outside. 



" It should be understood that all this relates to Surinam 

 sheet Balata, which we consider a little better quality than the 

 Demerara sheet. In the latter there are more thick white 

 sheets (Surinam is red or reddish brown, as a rule), and more 

 sandy pieces, and for this reason Demerara sheet is graded on 

 arrival in two qualities, known as ' Pile i ' and ' Pile 2,' the lat- 

 ter comprising the thick white and sandy sheets. Contracts for 

 Demerara sheet are thus made at two prices, the difference be- 

 ing about 2l4d. or 3^. per English pound. 



" On the whole, we believe that Balata is a pretty reliable 

 material — at least sheet Balata, the form of which precludes the 

 idea of adulteration. But the same thingcannotalways be said 

 of Venezuela block Balata, about which there are at times 

 serious complaints of adulteration. We now take the precau- 

 tion of having every block cut through on delivery. Importers 

 also try to help the matter by adopting the Surinam method of 

 collecting — in sheets — and we have seen some small parcels of 

 Venezuelan sheet Balata which showed a considerably improved 

 quality, although the material itself remains always inferior to 

 the produce of the Guianas." 



♦ • » 



We have also a letter from a factory in Europe long estab- 

 lished in the production of Balata goods, intimating that no 

 cause exists, in their opinion, for desiring a closer grading of 

 Balata than hitherto. 



A German manufacturer writes to The India Rubber 

 World that he does not agree with the writer in the last num- 

 ber of this paper, that sheet or block Balata is coming to the 

 market in different qualities. On the European markets, he 

 says, the sheet Balata is preferred, and costs more than the 

 block Balata. The best comes from Surinam, though good 

 lots are received sometimes from Demarara. It is yellow and 

 clear, while the block Balata is gray and not so pure as sheet. 



An importing firm in New York states that for ordinary re- 

 quirements in the United States the Venezuelan block Balata 

 suffices, while for finer work Surinam sheet is called for, graded 

 as " Pile I " and " Pile 2," with sometimes a special .grade of 

 " highest quality," which is amber colored. 



Another New York importer says that the average value of 



sheet Balata has been about 50 per cent, higher than block, on 

 account of being better dried. 



An American engaged in the Balata trade in Venezuela and 

 who has been experimenting with the production of Balata in 

 sheets, informs The India Rubber World that the Balata 

 cured in this form in the sun was dark in color, while the 

 sheets formed under sheds, and protected from the sun's rays, 

 was whiter. He regards as impossible any such supervision of 

 the native workers a? would result in cleaner Balata, though 

 the sap might be strained before curing, to get rid of fragments 

 of bark and the like. 



RUBBER STEALING IN RUSSIA. 



TW^ Diina-Zeitung, of Riga, in discussing the thefts of goods 

 in transportation on Russian railways and shipping lines 

 — impossible to suppress wholly, with the utmost precautions — 

 says : " There is, above all, one article made apparently for the 

 purpose of robbery — the most valuable kind of crude rubber, 

 the so-called Pard rubber, coming from Brazil. It is valuable, 

 one pound costing about 2 rubles. On account of its manifold 

 usefulness it can easily be converted into money. It is difficult 

 to prove its identity, because one piece looks like another, and 

 it cannot be proved whether the rubber found in the possession 

 of a suspected person is exactly the one stolen out of a certain 

 lot. Although the leading rubber manufacturers have taken 

 concerted action to check the stealing of crude rubber, and the 

 dealing in stolen goods, yet there are so many subsidiary trades 

 in which Pard rubber may be used — in the cloak manufacture, 

 and the repairing of goloshes and pneumatic tires, etc.— that 

 stolen rubber is almost certain to find a market, in small lots, 

 in such towns as Reval, Dwinsk, Wilna, Polosk, etc., where the 

 trade in such material is carried on openly." 



The rubber consumed in Russian factories comes mainly 

 from London, by sea, landing at Riga, Libau, and St. Peters- 

 burg. The newspaper above quoted says that lower sorts are 

 not molested, because less readily marketable, but that the 

 thieves can distinguish the Pard rubber by means of the cases 

 in which it is packed, and it is seldom that a lot arrives with- 

 out having been broken into. For a longtime the parties who 

 suffered the loss endeavored to find out where the stealing oc- 

 curred, and who could be made responsible lor it. The cus- 

 toms officials proved that they had delivered the weight re- 

 ceived ; the English shippers proved the correctness of the 

 weights as inserted in bill of lading before the boxes went on 

 board ship, and the ship captains — why of course nothing could 

 be stolen under them ; their sailors were men of honor. The 

 hipD.vner3, of course, sided with their captains. 



Quite accidentally a clue was discovered lately to the 

 methods of the rubber thieves. The English Wilson line 

 steamer /Tnm/f/t; was unloading coal at Miihlgraben, the coal 

 being hoisted from the hold in baskets and turned into a wooden 

 chute through which it was conveyed on shore. A customs 

 officer was surprised to see one large piece of coal suddenly 

 leave its place in the chute, give two or three bounds, and 

 spring overboard, where it floated on the water. He had the 

 strange object picked up, when it proved to be a ball of Para 

 rubber, weighing about 18 pounds. A search of the coal cargo 

 revealed many more such balls — about 2S8 pounds in all, ab- 

 stracted from a lot of rubber carried by that steamer for two 

 local factories. Evidently the rubber had not been abstracted 

 and mixed with the coal before the rubber cases were brought 

 on board, nor had it been done by the local laborers during 

 the unloading. Steps will now be taken to protect rubber 

 shipments while at sea. 



