72 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



I December i, 1909. 



WHITING 

 IN MEXICO. 



MR. BAXTER'S 

 RETIREMENT. 



subjected to inspection and by certificated operators. Anyhow, 

 the home secretary in answer to questions put in Parliament, ha^ 

 aid that the operators will be indicted for manslaughter in the 

 event of am further fatalities with carbon tetrachloride. It 

 therefore behooves rubber manufacturers to take, all possible 

 precautions in this connection. 



Wrrn reference to this topic, mentioned in the October number 

 of The India Rubber World, 1 don't know that it is quite accu- 

 rate to use the term "whiting" for a 

 natural product. It is usual to limit the 

 term whiting to the product which is 

 obtained from chalk by elutriation in water, whereby the gritty 

 particles, sand, and the like, are removed by subsidence. Of 

 course, the new Mexican discovery may be of a purity hitherto 

 unknown, but as a refining plant is being put up it does not look 

 as if it was so very superior to the ordinary chalk of England 

 and France. To the best of my knowledge the English whiting 

 is not obtained, as stated in the article, from a very hard lime- 

 stone, but from the soft chalk which belongs to quite a different 

 geological horizon. I do not know personally of any refining 

 works on the chalk dips of Albion, but across the water in the 

 same chalk strata Taylor & Son, an English firm, are proprietors 

 of the Carrierer du Mont de Caux, near Dieppe, where there is 

 a large purification plant. The price paid by rubber works for 

 their whiting is much less than it was in days I can recall, and 

 the margin of profit cannot be large. Of course, entire absence 

 of grit is a most important desideratum, the color also being a 

 gage of quality. 



Mr. James E. Baxter has retired from the board of the Ley- 

 land and Birmingham Rubber Co., Limited, and Mr. R. T. 

 Byrne has been elected chairman in his 

 place. It will be remembered that Mr. 

 Baxter, to whose initiative and energy 

 is due the great development of the Leyland factory from a 

 comparatively insignificant concern, retired some years ago from 

 the active control, but resumed his position at a later date by 

 the express desire of the shareholders. Lest there should be 

 any misapprehension on the point, I may state that Mr. Baxter's 

 withdrawal from the board is due to the multiplicity of his in- 

 terests and engagements. These include directorships in two 

 or three rubber planting companies, on the boards of which he 

 can, of course, speak with a knowledge of the trade in all its 

 bearings. 



The death of Mr. Herbert Wilford Brett, reported in the 

 last India Rubber World, was a shock to his many friends, 

 though he had been by no means in ro- 

 bust health of late. The end came very 

 suddenly, when he was playing billiards 

 with Mr. H. de Courcy Hamilton, at his own house at New- 

 bury, Berkshire. Mr. Brett, who was a clergyman's son, is 

 said to have amassed a fortune in connection with rubber plant- 

 ing companies, being on the boards of a large number. 



Mr. Hamilton, a relative of General Sir Bruce Hamilton, has 

 had a long experience as a planter, notably in the West India 

 islands. He is now a director of three or four rubber planting 

 companies, and has just left England for Ceylon and Sumatra 

 in connection with their interests. 



Lord Kingsale, who appeared as chairman on the prospectus 

 of the Ivory Coast Rubber Estates, Limited, is the premier baron 

 in the Irish peerage, the creation dating from 1187, though 

 some authorities put the date of the actual patent some forty 

 years later. He has the hereditary privilege of keeping his hat 

 on in the presence of royalty. Certain statements in the pros- 

 pectus and the previous newspaper paragraphs have been some- 

 what severely criticized by competent authorities, but those who 

 know anything about company flotations will attribute these 

 statements to the actual promoters rather than to the directorate. 

 Mr. Harvey Du Cros is to be entertained at dinner and have 

 a presentation made to him on November 19. at the Hotel Cecil, 



London, to commemorate the twenty-first anniversary of the 

 introduction of the pneumatic tire. This date is the first day of 



the Stanley Cycle Show. 



PERSONAL 

 MENTION. 



AMERICANS IN SCOTCH RUBBER MILLS- 



I N the official Daily Consular and Trade Reports, published at 

 * Washington, in the issue of November 15, appears the fol- 

 lowing report by the United States consul at Edinburgh — Mr. 

 Rufus Fleming — in regard to the introduction of American men 

 and ideas into Scotch factories: 



"( hie of the important industries in this district is the manu- 

 facture of india-rubber goods. The estimated value of the 

 products of this industry (chiefly overshoes and waterproof 

 coats) in the calendar year 1907 was $5,800,000. The principal 

 market for these goods is the United Kingdom, but for many 

 years the manufacturers have made large sales abroad, princi- 

 pally in Russia, China, Germany and France. 



"The leading article exported has been footwear. American 

 and other foreign competition in the British market and abroad, 

 especially in light-weight rubbers, has had a serious effect upon 

 the Scotch industry, as indicated by the fact that the exports 

 of rubber manufactures at Leith, the port town of Edinburgh, 

 fell from $1,095,390 in 1907 to $464,731 in 1908. For the most 

 part this drop in the export trade was due, I am informed, 

 to a decline in the demand from the Far East. Although the 

 home trade did not suffer nearly so severe a reduction, there 

 was a marked decline, owing to the general financial depression 

 last year as well as to outside competition. 



"One of the results of this unsatisfactory condition is ob- 

 served in the efforts of manufacturers to reorganize the in- 

 dustry on American lines. To this end they are employing 

 American experts to take charge of the principal departments 

 of manufacture. A prominent rubber company in this city 

 recently engaged three men of long experience in New Engl- 

 land mills, at salaries much higher than the British standard. 

 This enterprise of Scotch manufacturers makes it clear that 

 they recognize the necessity of organizing their establishments 

 on the American plan, if not of copying the American styles of 

 goods." 



The following note from The India Rubber World of October 

 1 may be reread witli interest in connection with the report above: 

 Mr. Alexander Johnston, general works superintendent of the 



North British Rubber Co., Limited, of Edinburgh, was a visitor to the 



United States during the past month. 



THE RUBBER INTEREST IN JAPAN. 



RECENTLY issued official trade statistics of Japan show the 

 value of imports of crude india-rubber and gutta-percha 

 to have been as follows, the figures indicating yen [1 yen = 50 

 cents, gold] : 



1907. 1908. 



From Dutch East Indies I334&6 335.545 



I'r. mi Straits Settlements 31S.265 205,161 



From Great Britain 97.684 184,293 



I 1 111 United States 145,841 101,291 



From British India 53>Io6 35,720 



From Germany 1 1,357 8,022 



From other countries 13.975 16,546 



Total 770.714 886,758 



The imports of two lines of manufactures involving more or 

 less rubber were as follows, values being stated in yen : 



1907. 1908. 



Submarine and underground wires 1,333,144 420,277 



Insulated electric wires 1,129,568 1,446,852 



Under these heads the largest share came from Great Britain, 

 with the United States second and Germany third. 



The establishment of a rubber reclaiming plant is being con- 

 sidered by an important firm in Japan. 



