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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August 1, 1914. 



The India Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE STATE OV THE TRADE. 



TIIF. riililHT trade generally i.s decidedly quiet, following 

 the slackness in the great engineering and cotton indus- 

 tries of the north of England. .\ lively demand — or the 

 reverse — for mechanical goods has come to be recognized as 

 the index of good or indifferent trade, other branches of the 

 manufacture depending more upon special circumstances, among 

 which the prevailing weather tal<es rather a prominent position. 

 Motor tires, both for pleasure and commercial vehicles, continue 

 in good demand, but owing to increased competition from home 

 and abroad individual profits in the majority of cases show a 

 considerable reduction, a position of affairs which seeni.s likely 

 to become even more acute. 



The state of trade is of course against the raw rubber 

 interests, manufacturers preferring to buy only for their im- 

 mediate requirements. This policy seems pretty general, and 

 though there is no organized arrangement to depress prices 

 it is recognized generally in the trade that the policy of buying 

 from hand to mouth tends to keep prices down ; and it is 

 confidently anticipated that the next month or two will see a 

 further depression. No immediate remedy from the rubber 

 growers' point of view seems likely, as it will take some time for 

 the rubber lawn tennis court to establish itself in popular favor. 



I am told that the court at the Rubber Exhibition cost £500 

 to make, and I have also been assured by others that they 

 would be glad to make one at half that price. Presumably 

 the usual state of affairs will result if such courts come into 

 demand, i. e., prices will be cut and the substitute court be- 

 come rampant, to the general discredit of the rubber court. 



To revert to raw rubber for a moment, there is undoubtedly 

 a good deal in Mr. Herbert Wright's contention that planters 

 are acting more in the manufacturers' interest than their own 

 in giving full publicity to their costs of production, forward 

 sales, etc. Mr. Wright's refusal, as chairman, to give details 

 of his companies has met with strong criticism and may not 

 prove of benefit, but there seems little doubt that manufacturers 

 are apt to frame their buying policy to some considerable 

 extent upon the facts and figures specifically mentioned, as 

 also upon others which regularly see the light of day in regard 

 to rubber plantations but are usually hidden under a veil in 

 the case of other commercial concerns. 



PRICE OF MOTOR PNEUMATIC TIRE.S. 

 Afotor car owners are at the present time much exercised 

 in mind with regard to their purchases of tires, as the prices 

 of different firms for what is apparently the same article show 

 considerable variation. In a general way, what I may call 

 the leading group of six or seven makers offer their tires at 

 the same price. Other makers outside this group show con- 

 siderable difference of price, in both directions. Taking the 

 most common size, 815 mm. x 105 nnn. (32" x 4"), as used on 15 

 H. P. cars, the purchaser has quite a bewildering choice, from 

 the ii ]&•. Russian Prowoduik tire to the new Moseley 

 plantation rubber tire at ii 18-f. less a special discount of 10 

 per cent, during July. Then Ilarrod's Stores, of London, are 

 offering their Shell tire, which is moderately priced, while the 

 Avon Rubber Co. are asking £4 18.S. for their 815 mm. x 105 mm. 

 (32" X 4") extra heavy, their ordinary type remaining 15.f. higher 

 than Moseleys'. Henley's Telegraph Works, which are newcomers 

 into this field, have a rather high-priced tire. I might go on 

 enumerating different makes but I merely wished to make a 

 brief reference to the existing situation. As all the manufac- 

 turers give a guarantee of 3,(XX) to 4.000 miles, motorists are 



engaged in linding out for themselves if the higher-priced tires- 

 are really more ecenomical in the end than those purchasable 

 at a much lower figure, as for instance the .\tlas Vanadium 

 l)uiicturc proof tire, which is priced at £8, the same figure at 

 which the Prowodnik tire was formerly sold. 



MR. W. J. EVRE. 



I regret to have to record the death of this gentleman, in 

 his 74th year : and a word or two about his career may be 

 of interest. From early life he was associated with the African 

 rubber trade in Liverpool, and about twenty years ago he 

 conceived the idea of washing dirty rubbers for the trade, 

 thus being a precursor of the Crude Rubber Washing Co. 

 His business premises were near Holywell in North Wales,. 

 the site and buildings of a defunct copper works being utilized. 

 A large overshot waterwheel formed the source of power for 

 the washing machines, which at the time of my last visit lo 

 the works were being largely augmented. Unlike concerns 

 whose procedure has been to buy rubber outright, wash it and 

 then have to face a falling market on selling, Mr. Eyre's- 

 method was to bargain with a customer to take the washed 

 rubber at a price before completing his own purchase. No 

 rubber was of too low a grade or too high a smell for Mr. 

 Eyre to tackle, a certain strong but harmless disinfectant playing 

 a prominent part in the treatment. Mr. Eyre leaves a son 

 who was associated with him in the business. 

 RECLAIMED Rl'liRER. 



The impending doom which, according to Mr. Maclaren's- 

 statements of some months ago, threatened the reclaiming in- 

 dustry, shows no signs yet of materializing. No works have 

 yet been closed down. On the contrary, rubber scrap dealers 

 and reclaimers I have met speak with confidence as to their 

 prospects. Individual reclaimers of course may express the opin- 

 ion that there are too many in the business, and the competition 

 among selling agents is certainly keen enough, for the number 

 of buyers is very limited. Further competition, I hear, is immi- 

 nent, as a large American concern hitherto unrepresented in 

 Great Britain has recently established an agency. The works 

 of the Xylos Rubber Co.. Limited, at Trafford Park, Manchester, 

 are rapidly approaching completion. These works, as men- 

 tioned on a former occasion, are promoted by the Firestone 

 Tire & Rubber Co., of Akron, Ohio, and will operate a patent 

 granted in 1912. It is a modification of the alkali process, the 

 novelty being the use of a small quantity of aniline or other 

 amino compound which acts as a catalytic agent, bringing about 

 the union of both the free and combined sulphur with the caustic 

 alkali. Samples of the product which I have seen are of very 

 high quality. 



PAVEA RUBBER. 



The general interest in this topic is well sustained, all the 

 more since the appearance in "Truth" of articles under the head- 

 ings of "The Tipperary Rubber Boom" and "The Synthetic 

 Enigma." Owing to the widespread interest and the attempts 

 which have been made to obtain information surreptitiously, 

 sentries have been posted round the Handforth works night 

 and day. With regard to the offers or challenges which have 

 been made to Mr. Roberts by "Truth." your London contemporary 

 and others, that the complete process should be demonstrated 

 before experts sent by the said challangers, rubber manufacturers 

 say that they see no reason why Mr. Roberts should thus oblige 

 those with whose interests he may come into conflict. ,, It 

 must lie remembered that those who made synthetic rubber by 



