March 1, 1911.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



193 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE PRICE OF 

 BAW BITBBER. 



EARLY in January the price of fine hard Para fell for one 

 day, at any rate, to 5s. per pound, at which price a lead- 

 ing manufacturing firm told me they could get enough 

 to cover their requirements for some time ahead. This price 

 the culmination for the moment of a steady and continuous 

 fall in values, though, of course, satis- 

 factory to the trade, is by no means 

 to the liking of shareholders in planta- 

 tions in a stage of evolution and much less to company pro- 

 moters who still have some properties up their sleeves. This, 

 however, goes without saying, a point of greater interest and 

 uncertainty being the cause of the decline. Here one is on 

 thorny ground as unanimity of opinion by no means prevails 

 among those whose position entitles them to credence. I do 

 not profess to be behind the scenes myself, and the following 

 explanation is merely the statement at second hand of one who 

 has had special facilities for probing the situation. In the 

 early months of last year, when it was foreseen by certain astute 

 minds that the time had come for company flotation on a com- 

 prehensive scale, a good deal of rubber was kept back from the 

 market, so as to keep prices at a high level. The lock up of 

 capital was met by advances from the banks, both London and 

 provincial, on the security of the rubber. After a time, when 

 the price commenced to fall, owing to the obstruction of buy- 

 ers, the banks required further securities which were forth- 

 coming when hope existed that the setback would prove to be 

 only temporary. As this did not take place, the natural re- 

 sult was that the rubber was gradually put upon the market. Of 

 course, the normal factors of supply and demand also exerted 

 their influence, but according to my authority the statement made 

 last year to the effect that rubber was being kept off the mar- 

 ket, was certainly barred, in fact, though at the time the ex- 

 istence of any such practice by capitalists was pooh-poohed by 

 technical writers generally. Since writing the above, fine Para 

 has been down to 4s. lOd. [=r $1.18] per pound. 



The forthcoming legal action to which I referred a few 

 months ago may be expected to mature between now and Easter, 

 and in the meantime it is not surpris- 

 ing that some projected commercial de- 

 velopments have been arrested. In the 

 case of certain companies formed in the past to exploit patents 

 concerned with the production of mechanical rubber goods on 

 altogether new lines, the manufacture reverted to procedure, 

 but slightly varying from that of the ordinary rubber works. 

 It would not altogether surprise me to hear that reforming 

 works, where equipped with ordinary rubber machinery, took 

 to producing new rubber goods as part of their general busi- 

 ness, thus coming into direct business competition with the es- 

 tablished rubber works. In this eventually one can hardly 

 prognosticate profits on the same scale as hinted at in a pros- 

 pectus which is based on the exploitation of a patent certified 

 as entirely novel by this or that eminent K. C, though not 

 directly concerned with reformed rubber. An instance of this 

 procedure will, I understand, be furnished by the Reinforced 

 Rubber Co., Limited, who contemplate the manufacture of some 

 ordinary mechanical rubber goods at their works at Hull. A 

 new company, the Southern Rubber Co. (1910), Limited, was 

 registered at the close of the year, with a capital of i90,000 

 in £1 shares with the stated objective of manufacturing and 

 dealing in rubber gums, substitutes, natural or artificial, prod- 

 ucts of waste rubber, acting as selling agents, etc. A previous 

 company, from which this has sprung, has been located for 

 some time at Battersea, London, and its principal business 



REFORMED 

 RUBBER. 



has been the production and sale of certain reformed rub- 

 ber goods, under royalty from the owners of Care's patents. 

 The location of the new company is at Willesden, not far, but 

 in quite distinct premises, from the Simplex Rubber Co., 

 Limited, the proprietors of Care's patents. Mr. C. M. Green- 

 wood and others prominently connected with the old company 

 are on the directorate of the Southern Rubber Co., Limited, 

 at Willesden. The action for libel brought by Mr. G. F. Berry, 

 of the Premier Reforming Co., Limited, against Sir Chas. B. 

 Lawes-Witttwronge, Bart, came before the High Court on 

 January 19 and was adjourned at the close of the day at the 

 suggestion of the judge, to see if an agreement could not 

 be arrived at between the parties. This agreement was subse- 

 quently effected and the case was thereupon withdrawn. Briefly 

 stated, the action arose through a letter from Sir Chas. Lawes- 

 Wittevvronge to some of the prominent newspapers the day 

 after the prospectus of the Premier Company, Limited, appeared 

 in December, 1910, imputing incorrectness to some of Mr. Ber- 

 ry's statements. The letter also stated that the master patent 

 for reforming rubber was held by the writer, who had been 

 working it for some time at the works of the Millwell Rubber 

 Co., Limited, now located at Harpenden. This patent, I may 

 say, is that of Roux, with which that of Karavodigue, is now 

 associated, these patents being prior to that of Gare. I heard 

 it the time that the public subscription to the Premier Com- 

 pany w^as decidedly affected by the above letter. I think I 

 am right in saying that Sir Charles is the second baronet, the 

 honor having been conferred on his father, for his services in 

 connection with the scientific development of agriculture. Mr. 

 Berry is a relative of Mr. Rawson, the promoter of and con- 

 sulting engineer to the Premier Reforming Co., Limited. Mr. 

 Rawson, who is a son of the late Sir Rawson-Rawson, k.c.m.c, 

 has been for some time engaged in the flotation of companies. 

 Attention was drawn to the insidious character of suction 

 gas, at an inquest held in January, on a man employed at the 

 works of the Rubber Heel Manufactur- 

 FATAXITY AT A ; f^ Limited, at Chatham street, 



RUBBER WORKS. ^° ,r , / t~. .t. I, „ 



Clayton, Manchester. Death was shown 

 to be due to carbonic oxide poisoning, and seeing that the use 

 of suction gas, which is odorless, is largely increasing, too much 

 emphasis cannot be laid on the fact that it consists largely of 

 this very poisonous gas. This company formerly concerned only 

 v/ith reclaimed rubber chemicals, etc., is now making heel 

 pads on a large scale under the management of Mr. R. E. 

 Gregory, late of Capon Heaton & Co., Limited, Birmingham, 

 and formerly departmental manager at Chas. Macintosh & Co., 

 Limited. 



It has taken a long time to convince the railway companies 

 that rubber solution, made with carbon tetrachloride, is non- 

 inflammable and therefore not danger- 

 NON-iNFLAMMABLE ^^^^ ^^ j^.^^. howcvcr, the point has 



RUBBER SOLUTION. , ■ j -..i. ..u 1^ £ tU. 



been recognized, with the result of the 

 removal of the very onerous burdens which have hitherto been 

 imposed upon those who have forwarded this commodity by 

 rail. I don't know exactly whether shipping companies have 

 followed the railways, but they have always been very strict 

 about rubber solution. Only a month or two ago a heavy fine 

 and confiscation of the goods was ordered at Liverpool in the 

 case of a shipment of channel cement, which was really rub- 

 ber solution incorrectly described. At a later stage the weight 

 of the penalty was largely reduced, though the enormity of the 

 offense was insisted on. With regard to the use of carbon 

 tetrachloride the price, as compared with naphtha, has always 



