50 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, iqio. 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



IN a report made recently to the directors of the United 

 Malaysian Rubber Co., Limited, Dr. P. Schidrowitz states 

 that the production of 3,000 to 5,000 tons of rubber by the 

 company from gutta-jelutong should in no way affect the bal- 

 ance of the rubber market. In commenting on this the India- 

 Rubber Journal states that the interest 

 GUTTA ijf jjj statement lies in the fact that a 



JELUTONG. ...... ^ , 



process of substitution is about to take 

 place. Instead of a large quantity of jelutong being marketed, a 

 much smaller quantity of rubber will be substituted, the elimina- 

 tion of the lower and the substitution of the higher grade article 

 being all that will occur. Perhaps some people who are share- 

 holders in plantation companies may be interested in the balance 

 of the rubber market, but I think I am right in saying that the 

 bulk of those who have been using the large amount of jelutong 

 which has come on the market in recent years don't care whether 

 a few thousand tons more of raw rubber are produced or not. 

 They have been buying jelutong as a low grade rubber which 

 suited their particular purpose, and they don't particularly want 

 the purified rubber obtained from it ; at any rate they have many 

 other rubbers of similar quality to choose from. The India- 

 Rubber Journal presages the entire failure of jelutong supplies 

 for the manufacturer within a short time, and it is not at all con- 

 soling to the latter to know that an entirely different product will 

 be obtainable instead. This need not, of course, affect the pros- 

 perity of the Malaysian Rubber company as long as it can sell 

 its extracted rubber and residual resin at a profit. Jelutong, of 

 course, has only had a small use in Europe, compared with 

 America, but those who have adopted it as a cheap binding ma- 

 terial in certain branches of the rubber manufacture are by no 

 means pleased at the recent rise in price or at the threatened 

 extinction of supplies. The time now seems opportune for the 

 exploitation of other districts far removed from the Straits or 

 Malaya, where jelutong or something closely approximating to 

 it is known to occur. 



By the way, some rather severe strictures upon the flotation 

 and prospects of the United Malaysian company have appeared 

 in the Straits Times, and been reproduced in the London Finan- 

 cial News. Moreover, correspondence following this has shown 

 that there is an important German company working jelutong 

 in Sumatra, and obtaining it by a special process of their own — 

 facts w-hich are put forward to show that the Malaysian com- 

 pany has by no means a monopoly of the supply. 



Considering the way that the speculating boom has died down 

 among the public it is a question whether it is worth while for 

 financial and other papers to go on giv- 

 ing so much space to technical matters 

 which up to this year have only had 

 reference in the accredited organs of the rubber trade. Since the 

 fall in the price of raw rubber commenced, and was at once fol- 

 lowed by a fall in share values, public interest has diminished, 

 and now one hardly hears the subject of rubber referred to in 

 the club or the railway train. In some quarters a new boom is 

 confidently predicted when American supplies run out, but what- 

 ever may happen in this direction, it is certain that the criticisms 

 leveled at five or six of the new promotions will not be forgot- 

 ten by investors or even speculators if there should be a revival 

 of rubber promotions. The general position is that whatever 

 dividends may have been paid or are assured the market value 

 of the shares in all the companies has fallen considerably, and 

 this is a position of affairs that the average investor does not 

 appreciate, and he is not always too ready to agree with the 

 opinion of the chairman of his company that the fall in price of 



EUBBER AND 

 THE PUBLIC. 



HOLIDAY 



NOTES. 



rubber is a very great advantage. With regard to this point, it 

 is pretty generally agreed in manufacturing circles that a further 

 drop of a shilling or two per pound will see a large increase in 

 the demand. I have my doubts as to the vast extent of the pre- 

 dicted increased demand, but quite agree that the demand will 

 be largely augmented by the advent of an era of low prices. At 

 the time of writing, when firm, hard Para has fallen below 6 

 shillings a pound, quite a panic seems to have possessed share- 

 holders in rubber, and the disposition to realize holdings for what 

 they will fetch has, of course, had the effect of further depre- 

 ciating share values. 



.A.T this season of the year it has generally been my custom to 

 say something about rubber or rubber factories arising from a 

 Continental holiday. This year, how- 

 ever, I have nothing of technical inter- 

 est to record. My vacation was briefer 

 than usual, and time only permitted of my visiting a few places 

 in France. I may say that when in Paris I had the pleasure of 

 meeting Mons. A. D. Cillard, fils, editor and proprietor of our 

 contemporary Le Caoutchouc et la Guita-Percha, and was hos- 

 pitably entertained by him. My knowledge of French by no 

 means represents perfection, but I think it will be admitted that 

 it is better than Mons. Cillard's English, so the conversation 

 during dinner on the boulevards was carried on in French. I 

 understand that Mons. Cillard is secretary of the official French 

 delegation to next year's Rubber Exhibition in London, and 

 expects to be in London about a fortnight. Though of course 

 France is an important rubber manufacturing country, she still 

 remains by far our best customer. The most recent figures are 

 exports to France, £379,5.30, and imports from France, £30,000. 

 The larger exports to France are confined to certain branches 

 upon which the new French tariff is unlikely to have much effect. 

 Since writing my last notes on this absorbing topic the gauntlet 

 has been thrown down by the Simplex Rubber Co., owners 

 of Care's patent, to all and sundry other 

 reformers. 1 was fully expecting some- 

 thing of the sort, and am not taken by 

 surprise. Under the circumstances, I must necessarily refrain 

 from comment until the issue between the Simplex company and 

 the Premier company is settled, either within or without the 

 law courts. I say Premier company, as I understand that they 

 are one of the disputants in the action which is impending. As 

 there are several reforming patents granted, the issue of their 

 action will be looked for with great interest, and the trial will 

 certainly rank as the most important rubber case which has come 

 before the courts for a very long time. 



I AM looking out with interest for replies to the letter on this 

 subject from "A Merchant" in the September issue of The Indi.'^ 

 RuBUER World. The wording of the 

 letter is of a somewhat peremptory na- 

 ture, and at the same time slightly ob- 

 scure. The gist of it is that our esteemed editor is requested to 

 ask the rubber manufacturers to inform the trade (?) what is 

 the difference in the working qualifies of fossil flour as sold 

 under various names, such as kicsclguhr, infusorial earth, tripo- 

 lite, and so on. The .'^imerican manufacturers may possibly jump 

 at this opportunity of getting into print, but I doubt if much in- 

 formation will come from this side. Though always ready to 

 assimilate trade information, the British manufacturer rarely has 

 any to impart. "A Merchant" wants to know why one of these 

 bodies is sold to the disadvantage of the other, when in reality 

 they are of one and the same character. I should think that the 

 correct answer to this is that one selling agent can "get in" where 



REFOEMED 

 RUBBER. 



FOSSIL 

 FLOUR. 



