December :, iooc.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



71 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE STATE 

 OF TRADE. 



RUBBER REGENERATING , 

 CO., LIMITED. 



IF all rubber goods consisted solely of rubber instead of in 

 so many cases containing only a modicum of it, there is no 

 doubt that a considerable depression would have to be re- 

 ported. As it is, the factories continue pretty busy, in spite of 

 the addition to the price lists. That the situation is a perplexing 

 and difficult one goes without saying, 

 but it cannot be called acute, or even 

 serious. Of course, in this manufacture 

 as in others, the putting of a 10 per cent, or other rise on the 

 price list does not mean that the manufacturer suffers no loss 

 from the abnormal market conditions, because the rise which is 

 put on never takes effect until its cause has had time to operate 

 to the producers' disadvantage. In other words, prices cannot 

 be put up the same day that the raw material is bought at an 

 enhanced price. Perhaps the feature of the greatest novelty in 

 the situation is the fact of rubber being sold six or eight months 

 ahead. A manufacturer of 36 years experience tells me that in 

 the whole of his connection with the trade he has never seen 

 anything like the recent Liverpool transactions for delivery six 

 or eight months ahead. The customary procedure of the past 

 has rarely exceeded two months. The general trade of the coun- 

 try is undoubtedly improving, with the exception of the cotton 

 industry, and the navy extensions recently decided on will mean 

 augmentation of the usual admiralty contracts. 



A company referred to in the local papers as the Rubber Re- 

 generating Co. of America is at the present time erecting a large 

 factory in Trafford Park, Manchester, 

 where the reclaiming of rubber by the 

 alkali process is to be carried on on the 

 large scale. I have not been able to come in contact with any 

 official in a position to give me any details, but the company is 

 said to be established at Chicago or thereabouts under the man- 

 agement of Mr. R. B. Price. In this connection I may mention 

 that on September 13 a private company called the Rubber 

 Regenerating Co., Limited, was registered in London. The capi- 

 tal is ii,ooo in £1 shares, the business being that of planters and 

 manufacturers of and dealers in rubber, balata, and other gums. 

 The first directors are R. B. Price, H. Kidson and L. D. Kidson. 

 The Trafford Park business, then, may be more than a European 

 branch of the American factory. It is more than probable that 

 the paragraphs in the local papers referring to the effect of the 

 regenerating process being to make old rubber quite equal to 

 new are not verbatim reports emanating from the officials. But 

 allowing for newspaper inexactitude, this second invasion of 

 American reclaimers into Lancashire is not without interest and 

 importance. The former instance is, of course, the North- 

 western Rubber Co., Limited, at Litherland, Liverpool. With 

 regard to the site of the works, I may say that Trafford Park 

 was, from the days of King Canute until recent years, the ances- 

 tral home of the De Trafford family. Now, however, it is the 

 property of the Trafford Park Estates Co., Limited, and is 

 being opened up for manufacturing purposes. The area is 

 about 1,700 acres, and the position, just in the outskirts of Man- 

 chester on the banks of the ship canal, to say nothing of railway 

 facilities, offers exceptional advantages. Among the works al- 

 ready established there are the Westinghouse Manufacturing 

 Co. and W. T. Glover & Co., Limited, the cable makers. 



The fact that one of the recently bought out companies has 

 arranged to return its capital to the shareholders because the 

 statements in the prospectus have been 

 found to be erroneous is indicative of 

 the rush there is at present to get prop- 

 erties on the market while rubber remains at its high prices. It 



RUBBER 

 PLANTING. 



takes time to get a report from an independent expert, so pre- 

 sumably in some cases promoters have been satisfied with in- 

 formation probably not altogether unbiased. With regard to the 

 relative merits of the new Ceylon and Malayan companies, it has 

 been said that the latter are the best investment, because the 

 trees come to the producing stage sooner than is the case in 

 Ceylon. I am inclined to think that this is not quite correct as 

 a general statement. Certainly it is borne out by past experience, 

 but this may be attributed largely to the fact that the earlier 

 Ceylon plantations were on ground previously exhausted of its 

 nutritious properties by crops such as coffee, while the Malayan 

 rubber was planted in virgin soil. Now that the use of artificial 

 manure is becoming more common in Ceylon this disparity may 

 be expected to disappear, and further, the new plantations are to 

 a great extent on soil which has not been exhausted by previous 

 cultivation of crops. So far one hears of no great shortage of 

 labor in the plantation regions, while this remains the crux of the 

 situation in South America. In this respect, indeed, matters are 

 tending to become worse, because occupation of a more desirable 

 kind is increasing — for instance, harbor developments. 



With regard to speculation in rubber shares, this is rapidly 

 increasing. Probably the shares are used more as gambling 

 counters than as legitimate investments, to judge by the con- 

 tinuous queries one hears as to whether it is time to get out. 

 The persistence of the high price of rubber is proving a source 

 of embarrassment to speculators, who, naturally, don't wish to 

 sell until top prices have been reached, 



Widespread notice has been attracted to this solvent by the 

 newspaper reports of the proceedings connected with the death' 

 of Miss Horn-Elphinstone-Dalrymple 

 while having a dry shampoo at Har- 

 rod's stores in London. After a pro- 

 tracted hearing, the charge of manslaughter instituted by the 

 Crown against the shop assistants was abandoned before its 

 final stage, but it was announced that any similar case in the 

 future will be very serious for the operators. It is not sur- 

 prising to hear that the liquid is not to be used again at Har- 

 lod's stores for this purpose. A noteworthy point about the 

 prosecution was that the medical experts had just read up the 

 subject, and knew practically nothing about the large trade ap- 

 plication of tetrachloride. Still, as the medical evidence went to 

 show that it had long been known as a strong and rather dan- 

 gerous anaesthetic, it is as well that the rubber, oil-extracting and 

 dry cleaning trades, where it is now extensively used, should 

 take every precaution against accidents. In all probability, if 

 Harrod's had employed assistants thoroughly familiar with its 

 properties the fatal result would not have ensued, though even 

 a trained anaesthetist does not necessarily know anything about 

 the purity of his chemicals. It was mentioned in these notes a 

 few months back that commercial tetrachloride generally con- 

 tained a certain amount of carbon bisulphide as an impurity, and 

 this was found to be the case in the material used for the 

 shampoo, thus increasing its toxic effects. It may be taken for 

 granted that we have not heard the end of the case, and in all 

 probability the employment of tetrachloride in any way will 

 shortly be hedged round with government restrictions. In an- 

 other more recent fatality where two persons lost their lives, 

 an explosion of petrol took place when a dry shampoo was in 

 progress. The hair dresser said at the inquest that he held no 

 license for petrol, which was in increasing use by ladies. It 

 rather looks as if the whole business of dry shampooing, if the 

 demand does not die out after these results, will have to be 

 forbidden in stores and shops and carried on solely in premises 



CARBON 

 TETRACHLORIDE. 



