July I, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



357 



LIVERPOOL RUBBER CO. CHANGES. 



AN occasional correspondent who for some years was 

 connected with the Liverpool Rubber Co., Limited, 

 favors us with the following details of the history of that 

 company, which are of especial interest in view of the change 

 of control of the company reported in The India Rubber 

 World, April 1, 1910 (page 245): 



"I attended last week [The letter is dated May 11] at 

 the funeral of the Liverpool Rubber Co., Limited. The busi- 

 ness has been sold to another company who will continue 

 to carry it on, but unlike the old the new company will be 

 a private affair. 



"It frequently occurs that a business in the old country 

 establishes a branch manufacturing in the new, but the re- 

 verse was the case here ; the new company was the root, 

 the old country the branch. The Canadian Rubber Co. of 

 Montreal had built a works and had begun business, but 

 they found they had cut a bigger chunk than they could 

 chew. The output of the works was larger than Canada in 

 that day could absorb, and with a view of selling their sur- 

 plus production, they sent a traveler over to Europe. His 

 name was William Somerville. and the name still remains 

 in the firm known as William Somerville's Sons. 



"The man came here and did a fair business — so good, 

 in fact, that the Canadian company resolved to start a branch 

 works on this side. Liverpool was selected, land was pur- 

 chased and a works was erected, the works manager of the 

 Canadian company, a Mr. Hibbert, coming over and plan- 

 ning them out. By this time, however, the Canadian com- 

 pany had changed its mind. They found trade at home took 

 all their attention and they resigned the works. 



"Mr. Somerville, however, determined to continue them. 

 He completed the works, got a man named Burnham, who 

 understood manufacturing, from America, and began opera- 

 tions. He was stopped by a difficulty which in the light of 

 today is interesting. The Hayward Rubber Co., of America, 

 had disposed of their patents on this side to Messrs. Charles 

 Macintosh & Co., and the patents included the making of 

 shoes. [Now, over fifty years after, Charles Macintosh & 

 Co. become practically the owners of the works they then 

 tried to stop.] Happily the patents had nearly expired, and 

 progress was delayed until they were out, when work was 

 begun in earnest and has never since ceased. 



"Mr. Somerville, finding that the business was beyond his 

 means, applied to wealthy Liverpool capitalists and a lim- 

 ited company was begun in 1862, being one of the first under 

 the new "limited companies" act. The sole business at first 

 was shoes, but it was soon determined to extend operations. 

 A large new building was put up and the making of me- 

 chanicals, hose, belting and thread was commenced. It was 

 thought necessary to have a man of more general manufac- 

 turing experience than Mr. Burnham, and Mr. Robert Storey 

 was induced to come from the Russian-American India- 

 Rubber Co., at St. Petersburg, and take charge in Mr. Burn- 

 ham's place. Mr. Storey continued to be manager of the 

 company until 1874, when he resigned in favor of his son 

 who was manager until 1886. 



"To revert back, about 1865 Mr. Somerville and the direc- 

 tors of the limited company had some disagreements and he 

 resigned all active oversight over the business. A new 

 board had been appointed, and the chairman of this new 

 board took the control of the commercial side of the busi- 

 ness and retained it until his death in 1886. His health lat- 

 terly not having been good a deputy had been appointed in 

 1884 and on Mr. Taylor's death he continued to control 

 the commercial side until he resigned in 1895. 



"Mr. Henry G. Tippet, who had been elected to the board 

 in 1886 and made chairman in 1888. became sole business 



manager in 1895. The company was reconstructed, on a 

 broader basis, in 1894, new articles of association being reg- 

 istered on June 16, in that year. About 1903 Mr. Tippet 

 gave up all detail work, though remaining chairman, to Mr. 

 Lace, one of the staff to whom succeeded Mr. Eccles. After 

 the resignation of Mr. Storey, Jr., in 1886, the manufactur- 

 ing was in the hands of Mr. S. H. Foden until 1897, when 

 he resigned and was made a member of the board. An 

 American succeeded him fir a short time, but in 1899 Mr. 

 Wild was appointed and remained until 1909. Mr. Davis is 

 now in charge of the works. 



"Financially the early years of the business were poor. 

 Much money was lost in getting the work in order, and 

 from the bad debts which so often fall to the lot of a new 

 concern trying to push trade. About 1870 matters had, 

 however, settled down, and from then until about 1897, with 

 one or two slight breaks, very fair dividends — 7^ or 10 per 

 cent. — were paid. From 1898 the record has been poor. 

 The dividend on the ordinary shares has never been above 

 2 per cent, and usually nothing. The shares fell till from 

 being at a premium of about 40 per cent, they touched a 

 discount of about 75 per cent. 



"By the present sale, which means a discount of 20 per 

 cent., some of the recent buyers will have done well. One 

 block of about 400 shares was bought for about £500 not 

 three years ago, and will now realize about £1,600. The 

 older shareholders will suffer, but the sale is on the whole a 

 wise one. Under new control better days equal to anything 

 in the past may be before it." 



[Note. — A report from another source is to the effect that the terms 

 under which the new company gains control of the old is the for each 

 ordinary £1 share a preferred share of £1, debenture stock of £1, and 

 about £1 in cash, or a total of nearly £4.] 



GERMAN RUBBER GOODS PRICES HIGHER. 



J 



[FROM THE "gUMMI-ZEITUNG," BERLIN, APRIL 29.] 



ADVANCES in the prices of automobile pneumatic tires are 

 the most recent result of the continued rise in the crude 

 rubber market. After a more or less considerable advance in 

 the prices of nearly all rubber goods, manufacturers were like- 

 wise compelled to decide on an advance of from 5 per cent, to 

 10 per cent, in the prices of automobile tires. It was to be 

 expected that such a step would be necessary and it appears 

 rather surprising, in fact, that the advance was restricted to the 

 above mentioned small figures. The reason, may, perhaps, be 

 found in the desire of manufacturers not to deal too harshly 

 with the automobile sport, now in a flourishing state of develop- 

 ment, and with the automobile industry which is at present 

 slowly recovering from the effects of the recent financial and 

 commercial panic. 



The manufacturers of rubber covered canvas and flax woven 

 hose have also recently joined in the advance in the prices of 

 rubber goods. The latest issue of their discount lists show the 

 advance to amount to about 5 per cent, to 10 per cent. 



An announcement issued by the various works engaged in 

 making insulating tape proves that an advance in the prices of 

 all rubber goods is at the present time an imperative necessity, 

 unless goods of inferior quality are substituted for the standard 

 goods sold in the past. The price of insulating tape, which was 

 exceptionally unfavorable for manufacturers, has been advanced 

 10 per cent. 



Hard rubber is likewise advancing, prices of hard rubber 

 goods having advanced 10 per cent, since the middle of April. 

 Advances of 10 per cent., to be in force on and after April 15. 

 have also been announced for cycle fittings and materials for 

 cycle repairs, solid rubber tires, and the like. The advance 

 consequently extends to all lines of the rubber goods trade, and 

 although it was of course, to be expected, there has never 

 before been such a general advance in the rubber trade. 



