February i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



167 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



IN sunie quarters more importance i 3 attached to physical tests 

 of rubber than to chemical analysis, and this both because the 

 physical tests are considered more reliable and at the same 

 time cost much less. It may be of interest in this connection to 

 give the cable specification issued by the London consulting en- 

 gineers for the Indian State Railways : 



CABLE (1) Tile cable to be of the best quality on 



TESTS. drums of specified sizes. 



(2) Samples of the vulcanized rubber taken 

 from the cable will be stretched to four times their original length, a 13 

 inch length being taken between clamps, the temperature being 60 degs. 

 Fahr. When released they are to return to within 25 per cent, of their 

 original length. 



(3) Fresh samples are to be submitted, one to a moist heat of 320 degs. 

 Fahr. for four hours, and another to a dry heat of 270 degs. Fahr. for 

 two hours. These samples are to be stretched to 3 l / 2 times their original 

 length (12 inches between clamps) for 24 hours at 60 degs. Fahr., and are 

 to return within 25 per cent, of their original length in six hours. 



(4) Each length to be tested in water by 1,000 volts, attenuating for 30 

 minutes. 



With regard to these tests it will be noted that while the old 

 Admiralty moist and dry heat tests are retained, they are supple- 

 mented by a stretching test which certainly tends to give them 

 some value. In the old Admiralty test the rubber was merely ex- 

 amined after the heating and there was plenty of room for 

 different operators to form different opinions with regard to 

 the result of the tests. 



Presumably the stretching tests are intended to indicate 

 whether the best rubber has really been used. How far they do 

 this is a matter in which I do not propose here to enlarge. I 

 think, however, that where the absence of even a few per cent, 

 of certain well known foreign bodies is really desired I should 

 prefer to employ chemical analysis in order to definitely clear 

 up the point. 



The fact that Messrs. R. & J. Dick, Limited, of Glasgow, are 

 building a balata belting works at Passaic, New Jersey, was 

 chronicled in the December issue of 

 The India Rubber World. I may add 

 that Mr. Parker Smith's statement at 

 the annual meeting of the company to the effect that the new 

 American tariff of 35 per cent, necessitated this has been chal- 

 lenged in letters to the press. It has been pointed out that as 

 there are no American manufacturers of this belting there is no 

 internal competition to meet. It is further stated that the pres- 

 ent unsatisfactory sales of the company's belting in America are 

 due to close European competition, there being now several large 

 manufacturers in Europe, more especially in England. Of course 

 the new move will tend to put the Glasgow firm in a much better 

 position to meet British competition in America, now that the 

 latter will have freight and duty on imports. It will be seen, 

 then, that the case is not exactly one to expound on Protectionist 

 platforms at present. If American firms had risen up in com- 

 petition with Messrs. Dick it would, of course, have been differ- 

 ent. At the moment (I am writing before the General election) 

 Unionist politicians in general are hastily getting up facts and 

 statistics about industries of which they know nothing, in order 

 to preach the doctrine of protection on the platform, and it is not 

 altogether surprising that they sometimes come badly to grief 

 when questioning time arrives. But to keep more particularly 

 to my subject, I rather imagine the fact that all balata belting is 

 not made from pure balata has a good deal to do with the com- 

 petition which exists. Firms which continue to make and sell 

 only the very best quality must necessarily find it hard to com- 

 pete with others who sell a second quality either honestly de- 



BALATA BELTING 

 IN AMERICA. 



scribed as such or which is sold merely as balata belting. The 

 properties and uses of the belting have recently been well de- 

 scribed by "An Importer" in The India Rubber World, and 

 there is no need for me to say more on these points. With re- 

 gard to the editorial reference to its use in mines for con- 

 veying purposes, I have not seen it thus used in England but 

 for elevator belts, which are continuously passed through water. 

 It has become very popular at metal mines in dressing floors. 



The death of this commercial magnate will be felt more par- 

 ticularly in Liverpool, which had been his business headquarters 

 the late f° r so man y years. As chairman of the 



sir Alfred l. jones, Chamber of Commerce, and of the 



K.C.M.G. great Elder Dempster Shipping Co., 



and numerous subsidiary undertakings, including collieries and 

 seed crushing mills, he had an almost unique position in the 

 commercial life of the maritime city, and it is noted with sat- 

 isfaction that his executors are empowered in his will to carry- 

 on these various undertakings for at least ten years. The fortune 

 of about £750,000, which he has left is by no means so large 

 as had commonly obtained currency, and no doubt it has been 

 affected by the state of the shipping trade in recent years. It 

 was with the commercial development of West Africa that he 

 was more particularly concerned, though his connection with 

 the new banana industry of the West Indies had led to hi« 

 sobriquet of the "Banana King." With regard to rubber, though 

 he had a holding in some African plantations, and in conver- 

 sation with me expressed great interest in the improvement of 

 the processes of collection and preparation of West African 

 brands, his chief connection with the trade was in the matter 

 of shipping African rubbers to Liverpool. The institution for the 

 study of tropical diseases at Liverpool University was due to 

 his initiative and support, and will doubtless come in for a 

 share of his wealth. Another institute he founded was that 

 of commercial research in the tropics also located at Liverpool 

 University. This, however, ceased to exist in 1908, owing to 

 the withdrawal of his support. During its life this institute, with 

 which Dr. D. Spence was associated, was concerned with many 

 problems relating to African rubbers. No one who came into 

 personal contact with the deceased could have failed to be im- 

 pressed by his energy and capacity for work, and it is commonly 

 said that he wore himself out by his strenuous life. Early and 

 late he was always at it, and usually traveled in a reserved 

 compartment with a secretary and mechanical typewriter. He 

 was the American "hustler" personified in the Welshman, which 

 is somewhat of a novelty. Space only permits me to briefly men- 

 tion one more of his foundations — the Bank of West Africa, 

 which for the first time introduced the natives to coinage, and 

 has done away to a great extent with the irregularities of the 

 barter system. 



No doubt the prospectus of this important company, which 



was issued in London on December 15, will find mention else- 



the premier where in this journal, and I need not 



reforming CO., go into particulars. One or two points, 



limited. however, may be referred to. The pat- 



ent to be worked is that of Lumisch, with some improvements, 

 and what are referred to as secrets. The main difference from 

 the somewhat similar patents of Gare and of Hutchison is in the 

 employment of a small quantity of a volatile oil during the com- 

 pression of the powdered scrap in order to completely drive out 

 the air. It was understood that the name "Premier" could be 

 used, but at the last moment, when the prospectuses had been 

 printed, an objection was taken to it by the Premier Waterproof- 



