June 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



691 



The Rubber Trade in Great Britain 



By Our Regular Correspondent 



WHATE\-ER the future may have in store for the trade, 

 it is difficult to be optimistic at the moment. We are now 

 at the end of the fifth week of the coal strike with its gen- 

 eral discomforts and bad effects on trade. The dispute as to the 

 reduction in rubber workers' wages is now in the hands of the 

 Rubber Manufacturers' Association and the Workers' Unions, as 

 the Whitley Council seems to have conic to an end. The water- 

 proof garment makers to the number of about 5,000, the great 

 bulk of whom are located in Manchester, have now been on a 

 strike for five weeks against the proposal to reduce their wages 

 175^ per cent, and a settlement does not seem to be imminent. 

 With regard to rubber workers generally, notice of a 10 per cent 

 reduction was first posted by the Leyland & Birmingham Rubber 

 Co., Limited, but this was subsequently withdrawn in view of an 

 official statement to be issued by the Manufacturers' Association. 

 However, discussions are still proceeding with the leaders of the 

 workers' unions. 



Rubber workers in the Lancashire area have consented to the 

 following reductions : ten per cent less to male workers ; wages 

 of men over 21 years not to fall below 52.?. 6d. for a 47-hour 

 week ; Ss. per week less to female workers, the wages of those 

 over 18 years not to fall below 27 j. 6d. for 47 hours ; half a 

 crown less to workers under 16 years. These terms are only 

 temporary because the operatives' officials have been instructed 

 to press for an advance of wages at the end of three months 

 and also for the standardization of the rubber industry 

 throughout the country. Regular rubber manufacturers have 

 fceen more affected by the slump than those who specialize in 

 electric cables, rubber card clothing, lawn tennis balls, etc. While 

 the rubber manufacturers are working only two or three days a 

 week the above concerns and others not referred to, are on full 

 time. Reclaimers seem to have been hard hit, some works 

 being closed down altogether for the time being and others work- 

 ing only a fraction of the week. It looks as if the expected 

 trade revival will not immediately benefit the reclaimers as there 

 is little indication of a substantial rise in the price of raw rubber. 



The trade generally remains in a depressed condition and 

 apparently wages and probably salaries will have to be reduced 

 -to keep business going until the revival of trade, which will 

 come if costs can be brought down. Owing to dullness in the 

 rubber industry, and coal accumulations, the coal strike has not 

 caused any stoppage of work. In some cases where rubber works 

 draw electric power from the municipal works the supply has 

 been curtailed. 



RUBBER ROADWAYS, LIMITED 



This company was formed in 1913 and financed by the Rub- 

 ber Growers' Association and some of the plantation companies 

 with the object of experimenting in rubber-paved roads. The first 

 experiments were not very successful and about a year ago a 

 street in Southwark, London, notorious for its heavy traffic, was 

 laid with rubber blocks attached to steel plates. It was found 

 that the rubber became worn on the under side and detached 

 from the steel plates by the heavy traffic. A new method is 

 now under trial and appears to have given very satisfactory re- 

 sults. In this case the rigid steel plate is replaced by one of ex- 

 panding metal, the idea of the borough engineer whose further 

 report will be awaited with general interest. 

 FINANCIAL NOTES 

 The report of J. Mandleberg & Co., Limited, of Manchester, 

 for 1920, shows a decline in profits due to what the directors de- 

 scribe as the unprecedented fall in values. The net profit is 

 i76,206 against £102,882 for 1919. .\s there was a substantial 



carry-over and no addition is being made to the reserve, there 

 need have been no reduction except for the fact that the capital 

 was largely increased last year. This necessitates a reduction in 

 the dividend to 15 per cent against 22J/^ per cent in 1919, the 

 carry forward being £109,553. 



The electric cable business of Johnson & Phillips, Limited, of 

 Charlton, London, had a good year, the dividend being main- 

 tained at 12J^ per cent. Additional working capital, however, is 

 needed to cope with the growth of the business and the intention 

 is to enlarge the borrowing powers and create £350,000 first 

 mortgage debentures, the combined total of which is about 

 £119,000. 



F. Reddaway & Co., Limited, the well-known belting manu- 

 facturer of Manchester, is paying 8 per cent on the ordinary- 

 shares for 1920 the same as in the two previous years. Although 

 rubber belting and mechanicals are largely made at these ex- 

 tensive works the firm is chiefly known for its textile belts. 



Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co., Limited, whose works at 

 Traff'ord Park, Manchester, were formerly known as the British 

 Westinghouse Co., Limited, shows an increase in net profit of 

 £83,231 over 1919 and the dividend on the ordinary shares has 

 been raised from 8 to 125^2 per cent. At the meeting, the chair- 

 man, J. Annan Bryce, referred to the clouds which had come 

 over the bright prospects with which the year began. All 

 sensible men, he said, recognized that the worker should be 

 helped to maintain in part, at least, the improved standard of 

 living which he enjoyed during the war, but there must be a 

 fall in wages and this would cause a fall in the cost of living. 

 The claim that a shorter working day would not cause a decrease 

 in output had not proved correct. So far from that being the 

 result, even the output per man per hour was less, with the re- 

 sult of an immense reduction of output and increase of cost. This 

 made it difficult to compete with other countries where this state 

 of affairs did not exist. 



CYLERS, LIMITED 



Oylers, Limited, London, which has recently failed, was formed 

 in 1911 to take over an existing business largely concerned with 

 the manufacture of rubber surgical goods. The London premises 

 were later added to by the acquisition of the large unused building 

 forming part of the electricity works at Richmond, Surrey. 

 Here the Rapson tire was produced, or partly here and partly in 

 London. The petition for compulsory liquidation was filed by the 

 Isleworth Rubber Co., Limited, creditors for £2,147 though a 

 larger sum £10,180 is said to be due to J. C. Mason. The profit 

 for 1919 was £4,988 and for 1920 £7,069. The total liabilities 

 are put at £82,745 and the deficiency on realization of assets at 

 £68,857. There does not seem any possibility of the business be- 

 ing continued. 



INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ON INSULATING MATERIALS 



An interesting and important account of the results obtained 

 by the special committee appointed by Vickers', Limited, appeared 

 in Engineering, .'Vpril 22. The work was carried out at the 

 loco Rubber & Waterproofing Works, Glasgow, by some of the 

 scientists engaged at the associated Vickers' concerns, though 

 W. T. Glover Co., Limited, was not represented. Insulating 

 material for electrical apparatus and plants as distinct from cable 

 insulation was largely obtained from Germany and America be- 

 fore the war and the main object of the research was to en- 

 courage the manufacture of this material at home. The work 

 was principally concerned with varnished cloth, a material which 

 has long been a specialty made by Glovers, and in which per- 

 manent flexibility is required so that transformer coils may be 



