354 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD. 



[July i, 1910. 



The same class of work is not carried on at all these factories ; 

 for instance, Whiteley & Sons make the pure rubber cards for 

 the cotton trade, while Law & Sons make a specialty of the vul- 

 canized rubber cards so largely used in the woolen and 

 worsted mills of the Bradford district. A great deal of 

 card clothing is sold both in England and abroad in the un- 

 finished state— that is, without the steel points, this finishing 

 process being carried out in many small factories by other 

 firms who finally market the goods. John Whiteley & Sons are 

 the largest producers of card clothing foundation in the world 

 independent of their production of the finished cards. Their 

 •commodious mills include cotton weaving sheds, as they weave 

 all their requirements of cloth. Some of the machinery used 

 in connection with rubber block making was locally designed 

 and is not to be seen figured in the catalogues of the increasing 

 number of rubber machinery makers. That it has proved its 

 efficiency is testified to by the reputation which the firm's prod- 

 ucts has attained the world over. 



The chairman of the combine is Mr. Sykes, j. p., of the Hud- 

 dersfield branch, a gentleman who has paid several visits to the 

 cotton spinning districts of America. At one time he was closely 

 identified with cotton spinning in England, and is considered 

 an authority on the industry. Two other directors of the com- 

 bine, who have the control of the Whiteley & Sons' works, are 

 Mr. Whitley Thomson, late m. p. for the Skipton division, and 

 Mr. J. R. Rawnsley. Mr. Thomson is the present mayor of 

 Halifax. 



The mottled cut sheet used for these cards is made in a dif- 

 ferent manner to the ordinary cut sheet of the rubber works. 

 The masticator is dispensed with, the block being formed from 

 small particles of rubber which have had no more "working" than 

 the previous washing necessitates. At one of the branches there 

 is a plant for the manufacture of emery wheels, which are 

 largely used for sharpening the steel points, and in various other 

 ways the company fills its own requirements. To conclude with a 

 reference to the topic of the hour there can be no doubt that 

 the high price of rubber is somewhat threatening the continued 

 prosperity of the industry, in that it is causing users of rubber 

 cards to turn their attention to the composition cards which 

 are cheaper and which for certain purposes, more particularly 

 where contact with oil is unavoidable, have already an established 

 reputation. 



A series of general papers on various industries is being given 

 before the London Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, 

 and on April 5 the subject was "The 

 india-rubber industry," by Dr. P. Schid- 

 rowitz. I was unable to be present, and 

 base my few comments on the report of the proceedings in the 

 society's Journal. Whether it is advisable to attempt to cover 

 the ramification of a whole industry in the course of an hour or 

 so seems somewhat open to question ; anyhow it leaves plenty 

 of scope for those joining in the discussion to refer to points 

 which have been passed over. 



It is not always easy to condense a description of a technical 

 process into a few lines so as to make it intelligible to the un- 

 initiated, and the author in this case must be considered to have 

 achieved success with the exception, if 1 may say so, of the 

 reference to proofing, where one or two slips are noticeable. The 

 resume of the raw rubber industry will probably prove most 

 interesting to the bulk of readers of the Journal, as it brings up 

 to date a topic closely touching the pockets of so many. 



If I started to refer in detail to the paper I should require 

 more space than can be allotted here, and I must confine myself 

 to one or two points raised in the discussion. Colonel Richard K. 

 Birley seems to have been the only rubber manufacturer who 

 spoke, and the bulk of the speakers approached the paper from 

 the point of view of their own particular interests. The author's 

 references to re-formed rubber were amplified by Mr. F. L. 



KUBBER AND 

 THE CHEMISTS. 



Rawson, of the Premier Co., Limited, and later on Mr. Philip, 

 chief Admiralty chemist, inquired how to distinguish re-formed 

 rubber from ordinary rubber. Dr. Schidrowitz's answer to this 

 was that he did not know whether they could be distinguished — 

 an answer which may or may not have been of a diplomatic 

 nature. I suppose Mr. Philip is getting nervous about the Ad- 

 miralty contracts. 



Mr. Walter Reid, of Velvril fame, said that it was a pity that 

 rubber was used for waterproof sheeting, as it produced an 

 inferior article which lasted a year at the utmost. This must 

 be news to contractors for Army ground sheets, and in his reply 

 the author disagreed with the statement. Mr. Herbert Wright 

 prefaced some important observations on the state of the planta- 

 tion industry by a query as to whether the recent researches of 

 Harries on the chemistry of rubber had any technical signifi- 

 cation. The answer to this was in the negative. Of course the 

 topic of synthetic rubber cropped up and the chairman, Dr. 

 Levvskowitsch, said that synthetic rubber should be compared 

 with synthetic camphor, scientifically a success but commercially 

 a failure, rather than with synthetic indigo. It all depended upon 

 how cheaply the product could be grown. 



A GERMAN VIEW OF JAPAN. 



[from the "gummi-zeitung" (berlin), june 3.] 



THE possibility of Japan becoming of constantly increasing im- 

 portance as an outlet for the products of our industry is 

 as generally recognized as the fact that the said country is at- 

 tempting to make itself more and more independent in providing 

 for its requirements, and to close its borders to the import trade. 

 For this reason we may with considerable certainty expect that 

 notice of the discontinuance of the commercial treaty now in 

 force between Germany and Japan will be given in the near 

 future, whereupon the said treaty will become ineffective in July, 

 191 1. New negotiations will undoubtedly be opened at once, 

 but it is an urgent necessity for our industry to insist most 

 vigorously on the protection of its interests in this connection. 

 As a basis for its future commercial treaties, Japan has recently 

 adopted an entirely new customs tariff, showing very material 

 increases in the duty on important articles. We publish in this 

 issue such items, taken from the said tariff, as are of interest 

 to our trade, and have added for purposes of comparison the 

 duty to which the goods are subject under the present tariff. It 

 would be very gratifying to have these new customs modified 

 very considerably in the new commercial treaty with Japan. 



GOOD TIMES ON THE AMAZON. 



WHILE mi a recent visit to the United States Mr. Waldemar 

 Scholz, president of the Manaos Commercial Association, 

 in speaking of the present conditions in the Amazon country, 

 said : 



"The high prices for crude rubber, taken as a whole, have been 

 an excellent thing for every one in Brazil. Hundreds of rubber 

 gatherers and outfitters that for years have only made a bare 

 living or wen- deeply in debt are today prosperous. Then, too, 

 the high price of rubber is already attracting both capital and 

 labor, so that the state will profit as well as the individual. This 

 is true imi only of Amazonas, but of the whole valley. Our 

 present governor is a serious, able and popular man, very much 

 interested in building up the state. He is actively encouraging 

 the planting of rubber, and in many ways planning help in the 

 way of cheaper production and greater output. He is determined 

 that capital invested in Amazonas shall not only have the same 

 protection that it would enjoy anywhere else in the world, but 

 that it shall have every chance to be as remunerative." 



A book for rubber planters — Mr. Pearson's "What I saw in the 

 Tropics." 



