January I, 1911.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



113 



States senator with the new tariff law, with the idea of showing 

 that a rubber manufacturing company is enabled thereby to cam 

 inordinate profits, part of which go into the senator's poclcets. 

 The readers of The India Rubber World, being an intelligent 

 class, will not care to have more of the details of this rubber non- 

 sense than they may happen to have forced upon them in the 

 daily press, and it will not be repeated here. But one question 

 may be suggested : The rubber companies with which the sen- 

 ator's name has been connected by the press have able com- 

 petitors of the liveliest sort, who appear to be doing an enormous 

 business, raising and lowering the prices of their goods to meet 

 their ideas of the conditions of trade. Has each of these com- 

 panies its own tariff making senator, or has Senator .\ldrich 

 been working for his own friends and the enemy at the same 

 time? 



QUESTIONS NOT YET SETTLED. 



'T'O THE Editor of The India Rubber World: Being inter- 

 •*• ested in the guayule rubber, I would respectfully ask you 

 to inform me if, after the plant has been cut, it will again grow 

 and bear. If so, how long it will take to bear after it has been 

 cut. 



Will the industry augment or decrease, and if on the decrease, 

 what life do you believe it (appro.ximately) to have? Thanking 

 you in advance for your kind attention in the matter, I remain, 

 Yours, very truly, j. c. 



New York, December 13, 1910. 



THE FIRST CEYLON RUBBER SALES. 



'X'HE periodical auctions of rubber at the Ceylon Chamber of 

 *• Commerce sales room, of which advance notice was given 

 in The India Rubber World, were inaugurated on November 4, 

 with satisfactory results. The offerings were made by five firms, 

 as follows : 



Pounds. 



George White, Bartlett & Co. (36 packages) 3,181 



E. John & Co. (107 packages) 11,417 



Keell & Waldock ( 16 packages) 1,560 



Forbes & Walker (260 packages) 24,098 



Somerville & Co ( 102 packages) 8,786 



Total 49,042 



It is commented on in connection with this first sale that an 

 initial shyness was evident on the part of buyers, but a good 

 portion of the rubber offered was promptly disposed of. The 

 best prices realized were 4.1S rupees [=$1.3S] for sheet from 

 Olympus and biscuits from Keenapitiya ; 4.20 rupees [=$1.36] 

 for Neuchatel pale crepe; and 4.30 rupees [^$1.39] for Sirini- 

 wesa and "S. K." sheet. London auction results on the same 

 date, for good to fine Plantation sheet and biscuits were 5s. A]4d. 

 [=$1.30M] to 5s. yyid. [=$1.36.8], Fine Para at the same date 

 was quoted up to 5s. Wd. [=$1.42]. 



Regarding this initial rubber sale, the Ceylon Observer re- 

 marks how much more successful it was than the initial tea sale 

 under the same auspices, on July 30, 1883, when the offerings 

 included five lots from three estates, totaling 6,629 pounds, of 

 which only 999 found buyers. The tea sales, however, at once 

 became popular, and have grown in extent until they now involve 

 more than half the tea production of the colony. 



The Times of Ceylon suggests that "practically the same fac- 

 tors which led to the development of the local tea market operate 

 in the case of rubber, the chief of which is the convenient posi- 

 tion of Colombo in relation to the big consuming coiuitries. 

 Buyers in these countries, apart from Great Britain, already 

 find it convenient to come direct to Colombo for their supplies, 

 and it was an interesting fact that by far the largest bidder at 

 the first sale buys chiefly for the United States of America. It 



is only a natural consequence that sellers will put their produce 

 mostly on the Colombo market, as is the case in regard to tea." 

 The principal buyers referred to above were Messrs. C. W. 

 Mackie & Co., of Colombo. The Times, in connection with the 

 fact that ten grades of rubber were offered, says: "We trust 

 that before many months the output w'ill have been standardized, 

 with the consequent reduction in the varieties offering." 



The quantities catalogued for the second sale, on November 

 11, were as follows: 



Pounds. 



Forbes & Walker 15,390 



Somerville & Co 620 



E. John & Co 5,414 



Keell & Waldock 3,347 



George White, Bartlett & Co 813 



Total 25,584 



The second sale resulted favorably, though at somewhat smaller 

 rates in keeping with the condition of the London market. At 

 the third Ceylon sale, on November 18, the amounts offered by 

 the respective brokers aggregated 18,686 pounds 15 ounces. In 

 no other market is rubber dealt with with such precision as to 

 take account of ounces in w-eights. The unit of money in Ceylon, 

 however, is very small, so that the price of an ounce can be 

 calculated without going so far into fractions as where the gold 

 dollar is the unit. Every rupee per pound added to the price of 

 rubber means 2 cents, gold, per ounce. 



As shown on the statistical pages of this issue, the shipments 

 direct to the United States of Ceylon grown rubber are prac- 

 tically as large as to Great Britain; in addition a considerable 

 amount of the Ceylon rubber shipped to Europe finds its way 

 eventuallv to New York. 



A RUBBER FASHION NOTE. 



A CORRESPONDENT, whose sex does not transpire from 

 the pseudonym of "Why Not," w-rites to an English paper : 

 "I see it stated that a Bond street firm has been greatly taken 

 with a model of an evening gown, in which 'little pieces of mole 

 and flame colored soft rubber tubing' enter effectively into the 

 trimming scheme. But why not go further, and have complete 

 gowns made of rubber? In cases where the husband has, so to 

 speak, put his shirt on 'rubbers,' it seems a nice and equitable 

 adjustment that rubber should supply a garment for the wife. 

 Take gold, for example. What could be better than a costume 

 made of fine plantation sheet rubber, delicately smoked, and 

 ribbed in a manner suggestive of corduroy? Think of its ad- 

 vantages — waterproof, washable, durable, elastic, simple, effective, 

 and inexpensive. Then, again, in the 'hobble-skirt,' how it would 

 obviate the restriction of movement. On account of its elas- 

 ticity any length of stride could be taken freely, with the addi- 

 tional advantage that the material would tend to bring the foot 

 down again with that siuart prevision so desirable in these days 

 of militant suffragism. 



"It opens up a vista of great possibilities. The fortnightly 

 auction sales, for instance, would be 'anything but the humdrum, 

 prosaic institutions which they are at present. Ladies would 

 be certain to figure prominently here. It is not difficult to 

 imagine a City man on reaching home being met by some such 

 outburst as this : 



" 'Oh, dearest, I secured such a lovely bargain at the rubber 

 sales today ! Such a pretty remnant of Highlands smoked sheet, 

 at only six and eleven three ! I thought it would make up so 

 beautifully for motoring, trimmed with some of the scrappy 

 negrohead I bought at the last sale. It would be so effective 

 and chic, without being in the slightest sense bizarre.' " 



The London licensing authorities have placed their ban upon 

 sectional solid rubber tires for motor 'buses. 



