771 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



July 1, 1921 



conditions, subsequently, however, getting into difticulties with the 

 coming of the slump in trade. The proprietor, Ch.irlcs Russell, 

 has obtained the assistance of friends who will pay a sum equal 

 to about S.J. in the pound sterling. The estate will be dealt with 

 under a deed of assignment, a committee of inspection having been 

 ap|)ointcd. It is noteworthy that the largest creditors are Chess 

 & Stead. Limited, for i2,196. 



FINANCIAL RESULTS 



The fortieth annual general meeting of Siemens Bros. & Co., 

 Limited, showed that the results for 1920 were quite satis- 

 factory, as has been the case with the other cable-making con- 

 cerns, the general business slump having left them unaffected. 

 The net profit was £253.254, against £211,209 for 1919, and the 

 dividend remains at 10 per cent free of tax. With regard to the 

 proixjsed increase of capital and bonus distribution the chairman 

 said that the whole of the authorized ordinan,- share capital of 

 £1.500.000 was issued and fully paid up. and any addition was 

 to be avoided if new capital could be issued on another basis 

 and it was proposed to issue one million 10 per cent cumulative 

 preference shares. It was further stated that to put the old 

 shareholders on something like an equal footing with the new 

 ones they would receive a bonus distribution of one new prefer- 

 ence share for every five ordinary shares held. With regard to 

 submarine cable, the principal feature of the Woolwich works, 

 it w^as stated that the output in 1920 exceeded that of 1919 and 

 in this, as in the other branches of the business, such as electrical 

 apparatus, the business in hand was such as to enable a prophecy 

 of a 10 per cent dividend for the current year. 



Johnson & Phillips, Limited, another firm of electric cable 

 manufacturers, has declared a dividend of 12i^ per cent, the same 

 as for 1919, the profit being £98,405 against £90.000 for the 

 previous year. 



The report of Bell's United Asbestos Co., Limited, a com- 

 bination of Bell's Asbestos Co. and the United Asbestos Co., 

 shows a net profit of £64,670 and enables \2Vi per cent to be 

 paid on the ordinary shares in addition to the preference dividend. 

 The addition to the works at Harefield. Middlesex, for making 

 the new Hurcan building slabs has recently come into operation, 

 but owing to the high costs of labor and materials, the report 

 does not speak too optimistically of the immediate future. The 

 only important competitor of the company in this country is 

 Turner Brothers Asbestos Co., Limited, which, in addition to its 

 Rockdale premises, has large works in Trafford Park. Man- 

 chester, for the manufacture of building slabs and similar ma- 

 terial. 



THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY AND TALBOT 



The Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot, who died recently, was 

 known in the rubber trade not so much by reason of being the 

 premier Earl in the British peerage, but on account of his con- 

 nection with the Shrewsbury & Challiner Tyre Co.. of Ardwick, 

 Manchester, now a subsidiary comiiany under the control of 

 Chas. Macintosh & Co., Limited. The fitting of hansom caibs 

 in London and Paris with solid rubber tires was due to his 

 initiative and he was prominent in the foundation of the company 

 mentioned above, though he cannot be considered a rubber man in 

 the sense that Lords Colwyn and Grinerton are. 



SELENIUM OXYCHLORIDE 



The importance of this body as a new solvent appears to have 

 been amply demonstrated by Dr. Victor Lenher, professor of 

 chemistry at the University of Wisconsin. It appears to dissolve 

 bodies like enamel, bakelite, hard resins, etc., which have proved 

 resistant to all the known solvents. Further than this, the press 

 notice refers to it as a good solvent for rubber. One rubber 

 firm informed me that they understood that the new solvent 

 would entirely replace solvent naphtha. There are plenty of sol- 

 vents for rubber, but comparatively few of them are likely to be 



used on a large scale in the industry for some reason or other, 

 such as prices, toxicity, mineral content, etc. .Although 1 am not 

 in a position to speak authoritatively in the matter. 1 imagine 

 that though selenium oxychloride may prove to be useful in the 

 rubber trade, it will not be in the way of replacing solvent naphtha. 



CAPTAIN BUCKLETON HONORED 



The following modest item appears in a Li\ erpuul ( England) 

 paper : 



■ The King of the Belgians has bestowed ui)on Captain Ernest 

 Edward Buckleton, of 8, Croxteth Road, 

 Liverpool, the Palmes en Argent de 

 rOrdre de la Couronne, in recognition of 

 services rendered to the Belgian cause 

 during the war. 



This honor, to be made a Knight of 

 the Belgian Empire, is well deserved. 

 It will be recalled that this well-known 

 Anglo-.American rubber man. in the early 

 days of the Great War, opened his home 

 to some 75 destitute Belgians and through 

 his efforts among friends here and in 

 Europe, cared for hundreds more. 

 Belgium has not forgotten, nor should 

 we, who appreciate such broad-minded, 

 self-sacrificing helpfulness. 



FIFTH INTERNATIONAL RUBBER 

 EXHIBITION 



The Fifth International Rubber Exhi- 

 bition was opened at Agricultural Hall, 

 Islington, London, June 3, at noon, by 

 Sir Owen Philipps, G. C. M. G., M. P.. 

 the president, supported by most of the 

 prominent members of the rubber in- 

 dustry. 



The exhibition is thoroughly repre- 

 sentative of all sections of the rubber 

 industry, from the tree to the completed 

 article. All the rubber-producing coun- 

 tries are represented and some new ideas with re.gard to new 

 uses of rubber are in evidence. 



The conferences promise to lie of unusual importance and 

 interesting papers will be read. .\ large number of competitions 

 for valuable trophies have been announced. There will be fre- 

 quent displays of moving pictures of scenes in rubber-producing 

 and other tropical districts and instructive demonstrations in 

 the factories. 



.■\ detailed report of the exhibition, which closes June 17, 

 will appear in The India Rubber World, .August 1. 1921. 



Capt.mn E. E. Buck- 

 leton 



THE RUBBER TRADE OF FRANCE IN 1920 



IMPOBTS 



RECENT official statistics for the trade of France during 1920 

 show that on the whole imports decreased. This holds good 

 for the rublier industry too, in almost every department of which 

 the figures for 1920 imports are lower than during 1919: in some 

 cases considerably so. Thus, imports of crude rubber were 

 272,350 quintals (220.46 pounds), value 215,701,000 francs ($14,- 

 875.931), in 1920, as against 307,347 quintals, value 243,419,000 

 francs ($33,344,921). in 1919. The figures for 1913 were 174.410 

 quintals, value 122,783,000 francs ($23,697,119). 



Manufactures of rubber totaled 96..'?48 quintals, value 249.097.000 

 francs ($17,192,897). in 1920; 138.444 iiuintals. value 362.999.000 

 francs ($49,725,890), in 1919, and 33.260 quintals, value 44.386.000 

 francs ($8,566,498), in 1913. In manufactures, the most notable 

 decreases were in rubber thread: 2,371 (juintals, value 8.536,000 



