.\lAV 1, 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



449 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN JAPAN. 



By Our Rc^^uliir Corrcspundcnl. 

 JAPANESE MEDICAL RUBBER TUBING TRUST. 

 ■ I 'HERE are now live manufacturers in Japan of medical rub- 

 ■*■ ber tubing — Ingram Rubber Manufacturing Co., and the 

 Kobe Rubber Manufacturing Co., Kobe; Chiyoda Rubber Co., 

 Limited, and Kume Rubber Works, Tokio, and Kamenofuchi 

 Rubber Works, Hyogo — their joint output being some live times 

 that of the Ingram company, established in 1908. Japanese con- 

 sumption lias proved inadequate to absorb this increased produc- 

 tion and the price gradually dropped from yen 13.50 per kilo 

 (about $3 per pound) to yen 6.50 per kilo (about $1.50 per 

 pound). At such a price the production of new goods has of 

 course been impossible and it has been accepted only to clear 

 off surplus stocks. 



Under these circumstances it has been found necessary to 

 establish the "Tohan Rubber Trading Co.," a partnership formed 

 in February, 1914, by tlie live medical rubber tubing manufac- 

 turers, their agencies and nineteen traders in that branch. The 

 project is for the live manufacturers to sell their tubing only to 

 the trading company, directly or indirectly, the present surplus 

 being cleared off and production reduced by two-thirds. These 

 steps, it is anticipated, should cause tlie recovery of the market 

 price to its former position, 



Hy latest quotation the price as established by the Tohan Rulj- 

 ber Trading Co. is yen 9 per kilo (about $2 per pound). 



JAPANESE CRUDE RUBBER IMPORTS. 



1912. 1913. 



From — Pounds. Value. Pounds. Value. 



Straits Settlements... 1,214,485 $820,891 1,657,265 $885,602 



British India 167,063 140.781 ,340,343 239,281 



Dutch India 124,904 73,171 13,928 8,908 



Great Britain 242.620 230,663 440,802 408,865 



United States 158,176 160,556 139,624 100,112 



Other countries 96,782 88,495 89,981 83,154 



Total 2.004,030 $1,514,557 2,681,943 $1,725,922 



The increase shown above, of about 33 per cent, in quantity 

 of crude rubber imports, has been attributed to the aug- 

 mented Japanese manufacture of bicycle tires as well as to the 

 natural growth of demand stimulated by the low prices current 

 last year, which induced speculative operations in rubber. 



PRINCIPAL JAPANESE IMPORTS OV RUBBER GOODS. 



1912. 1913. 



Pounds. \alue. Pounds. Value. 

 Soft and other rubber 



goods 1,543.281 $537,663 1,087,400 $418,028 



Automobiles and parts 223. .598 555,023 



Bicycles (number).... 15.540 212,317 14,870 417,525 



Bicycle tires 491,994 556,677 428.980 519,498 



Other bicycle parts 576,708 649,616 



Insulated wire and 



cables 2.797,418 1.031.260 



Rubber boots 21,478 25.707 



Overshoes 21.019 \7,7i7 



Waterproof tissue.... 27..365 21.636 29„590 22.090 



Elastic webbing, etc 83.544 49,123 



Insulating tape 245,756 76,1.56 185,009 57.470 



Woven belting and 



hose for machinery. 352.114 147.601 605,676 280.392 



ing to about one-fourth, and representing the development of 

 Japanese production. In the imports of insulated wire and cables 

 there is a notable decrease, caused by the depressed condition of 

 the Japanese electric industry last year and the surplus produc- 

 tion of domestic makers. 



As bicycles are constructed in Japan from imported parts, the 

 imports of the latter show an increase, while the augmented im- 

 ports of automobiles and parts represent the present large de- 

 mand in Japan for the article. The enlarged manufacture of 

 bicycle tires is illustrated by the reduced imports as shown. 



A 



Total $5,275,815 $4,043,469 



Tlie effects of the new tariff, which went into force on July 

 17, 1911, are apparent in the considerable decrease in the value of 

 imports of rubber goods for 1913 as compared witli 1912, amount- 



RUBBER NOTES FROM BRITISH GUIANA. 



By Our Regular Corrcspoudenl. 



BOUT three years ago Mr. Henry Daley, tlien manager and 

 local attorney of the Esseciuibo Rubber and Tobacco Es- 

 tates, Limited, which corporation is now defunct, advocated that 

 the X'enezuelan or felling method of bleeding balata trees should 

 be resorted to in this colony, in place of the existing systen> of 

 tapping the standing trees. The proposal engendered much con- 

 troversy, in the course of which Mr. Daley produced some in- 

 teresting figures in support of his contention that it would be 

 more profitable to government and hcensee alike to cut down 

 the tree and tap it once and for all rather than tap it at long 

 intervals of about five years, and that only over half the circum- 

 ference of the tree, as prescribed by the Crown Lands Regula- 

 tions. He estimated that there are 5,000,000 balata trees in 

 the colony, but admitted that this was only a guess. He sug- 

 gested that a felled tree would yield 40 pounds of balata. Thus 

 lie estimated that the cutting down of all the balata trees in 

 the colony would yield 200,000,000 pounds of balata. 



In return for the concession of being allowed to cut down the 

 trees he suggested that licensees should pay a royalty of 12 cents 

 per pound, instead of 4 cents as at present, thus returning to the 

 g.ivernnient $24,000,000. He judged that it w^ould take 5,000 

 men 26 years to cut down and tap these 5,000,000 trees, the gov- 

 ernment thus getting nearly a million dollars a year in royalty, 

 instead of $40,000 a year. The government at the time refused 

 to grant the desired concession, and the controversy died a 

 natural death. The new governor. Sir Walter Egerton, how- 

 ever, on the principle, apparently, that the proof of the pudding 

 is in the eating, instructed his officers to experiment, with a view 

 to ascertaining the relative values of the two methods. These 

 officers have reported the result of their e.Kperiments, and their 

 report reveals that the government would have been a heavy 

 loser by permitting the wholesale destruction of the trees, and 

 that the licensees would have been heavy losers by agreeing to 

 pay 12 cents royalty instead of 4 cents, for the experiments 

 have shown that the yield of a felled tree is not 40 pounds, but 

 barely one-tenth of that amount. 



THE NATURE OF THE EXPERIMENTS. 

 One series of experiments was conducted by C. K. Bancroft, 

 .Assistant Director of Science and Agriculture, and S. H. Bayley, 

 superintendent of the Industrial School at the Indian Reserve, 

 situated at the back of Onderneming School farm. The trees 

 were growing in the forest, and were all ''virgin" trees, not 

 previously bled. They covered an area estimated at 5 square 

 miles, and extended to iYz miles beyond the back of the farm. 

 Bleeding was commenced as early as possible in the morning, 

 a greater yield being obtained at that time than during the 

 heat of the day ; and in the case of trees where latex w'as ex- 

 tracted after felling, the felling was done late in the evening 

 and the bleeding carried out the next morning. The bleeding 

 was conducted by a skilled bleeder of some 20 years' experience. 

 Twenty trees were employed, grouped into four lots — A, B, C, 

 D — numbered W, .\2. Bl. B2. etc. The girth of the trees was 

 taken at 4 feet from the grminil, the standard length adopted 



