Apbil 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



531 



as chairman. There appears to be a bank overdraft of over £4,- 

 000.000, and it is apparently intended to issue either 5 or 6,000,000 

 of debentures at what was rather euphemistically termed "a mod- 

 erate rate of interest." As regards the American company, it will 

 be necessary to provide further working capital to the amount 

 probably of $14,(XX),000, out of which the existing bonds will be 

 reduced, and the necessary additional working capital provided. 

 It is incorrect to assume, as many have done, tliat the troubles of 

 the Dunlop company are entirely due to the American ciittrprise, 

 as assistance is also required to linance the British company's for- 

 ward rubber and cotton commitments. There are now altogether 

 twelve subsidiary companies, including the rubber plantations and 

 cotton mills, the total capitalization exceeding £5,000,000. The 

 cotton mills in Lancashire have only quite recently been finished 

 and the recent sale of the Nile & Ross spinning mills by the Amal- 

 gamated Cotton Co.. Limited, was due to the fact that they were 

 no longer required. 



With respect to the profits of the current year, the chairman as- 

 sumed that sales will be reduced by about 45 per cent, as compared 

 with last year, and that a simultaneous fall in selling prices will 

 also occur. This somber forecast may, of course, be altered if 

 the Government turns a willing ear to the appeal of the company 

 to make applicable the dut>- of 33'/3 per cent on American tires 

 imported in the United Kingdom. The value of tires from all 

 sources imported in 1920 was £5.500,000, against £2,500,000 in 1919. 

 It cannot be said that the meeting did much to rehabilitate the 

 shares in public favor, the ordinary at the time of writing being 

 quoted at 10^-. and the new. issued at 30s. and 22.f. 6d. paid, 

 being Is. 



NEW USES FOR RUBBER 



The result of the prize competition conducted by the Rubber 

 Growers' Association is still awaited. Meanwhile only the further 

 development of rubber roadway is heard of in London, which can- 

 not be said to be at all novel. A recent patent application is for 

 rubber-studded concrete to be used on railway platforms, stair- 

 cases, etc., to prevent slipping. It is claimed that the additional 

 cost of this type of pavement will be repaid by the increased life 

 of the concrete. 



FINANCIAL NOTES 



The Greengate & Irvvell Rubber Co., Limited, has declared a final 

 dividend of 5 per cent on the ordinary' shares, making 7]/2 per cent 

 for 1920. £10.000 is put to reserve, and £17,681 carried forward. 

 It will be recalled that this company is a recent amalgamation of 

 I. Frankenburg & Sons, Limited, and the Irwell & Eastern Rub- 

 ber Co.. Limited, which have always had a close financial connec- 

 tion. The flotation was a very successful one in respect to appli- 

 cations from the public. 



Vickers, Limited, shares have fallen to lis. compared with al- 

 most 40s. reached at one time last year, and it is generally believed 

 that in order to tide over the present period of depression a fur- 

 ther issue of debentures will be necessary in the near future. The 

 change over from government work to purely industrial work has 

 unfortunately coincided with a period of labor disputes, contract- 

 ed trade and the inability of foreign customers to pay their debts. 

 It will be recalled that among the subsidiary companies controlled 

 by Vickers are the loco Proofing & Rubber Co., Limited, and W. 

 T. Glover & Co., Limited, cable maker, while the company is also 

 closely connected with the American bakelite patents which are 

 being exploited at another of the subsidiaries. 



With regard to the bankruptcy proceedings in the case of British 

 Rubber Manufacturers. Limited, the Committee of Inspection has 

 accepted an oflFer by S. van den Bergh, one of the directors, to 

 purchase the company's interest in the assets for a sum sufficient 

 to pay all the expenses of the liquidation, and a dividend of 2s. 6d. 

 on the pound sterling to the unsecured creditors. The liabilities 

 are £82.062. against assets estimated at £45,160. 



EUROPEAN RUBBER NOTES 



FRANCE 



'T'HE SociETi; Chi.mioue uu caoutchouc has recently been 

 1 formed at Paris, with head office at 9 rue d'Aguesseau, Paris, 

 and warehouse and factories at 1 and 3 rue Henri-Murger at La 

 Plainc-Saint-Denis. Seine. The company, which is capitalized at 

 1,700,000 francs, will manufacture and sell regenerated rubber, 

 special chemical products, "Activit," an organic accelerator, and 

 cloth for waterproofing and rubberizing, and will also prepare 

 fabrics for clothing. The first administrators are Jacques 

 Schwab, Rene Hermann and Gustave Bernstein, all of Paris. 



Le Caoutchouc et la Gulla-Percha announces that Dr. W. C. 

 Geer, of The B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, Ohio, and Professor 

 G. Stafford Whitby of the chemistry department of McGill 

 University, Montreal, Canada, are among their new collaborators. 



The Societe Manufactures Fran?aises Reunies de Cuirs, Peaus- 

 series, Courroies et Caoutchouc has been formed at Paris. This 

 new concern is the result of the fusion of two companies, Societe 

 Ulysse Roux et Cie., and Manufacture des Caoutchoucs de la 

 Drome. These two concerns have tanneries, belting factories, 

 and a rubber factory at Romans (Drome). The capital of this 

 firm has been fixed at 10,000,000 francs. 



GERMANY 



On March 16 of this year, the commercial agreement made be- 

 tween Germany and Sweden on May 2, 1911, will come to an end, 

 in accordance with a notice given to Germany by Sweden. Like 

 many another country, Sweden is going through an economical 

 crisis and the Government is anxious to curb imports from for- 

 eign countries by means of a new tariff. 



It seems that Sweden has no intention of according to Ger- 

 many most favored nation treatment in the new tariff. The low 

 rate of the mark permits Germany to place goods on foreign 

 markets at a lower price than that demanded by local manufac- 

 turers, and Swedish business men accuse Germany of dumping. 

 The opinion in Germany seems to be that Sweden is more in 

 need of the German market than Germany is of the Swedish 

 market. 



What is considered of more importance here is the clause in 

 the Versailles peace treaty by which Alsace-Lorraine, now a 

 part of France, will send certain quantities of goods, free of 

 duty, into Germany, for a period of five years. The quantities 

 are to be based on the average annual amounts of goods delivered 

 to Germany by Alsace-Lorraine from 1911 to 1913. For the 

 period January 11, 1921, to January 10, 1922, the quantities of 

 rubber goods and rubber waste which must enter duty free, total 

 353,000 kilos (kilo = 2.2 pounds). 



It is claimed in Germany that Alsace-Lorraine never sold such 

 quantities of goods, raw, partly manufactured and manufactured, 

 as are mentioned in the list given out by the French Government. 



NEW FIRMS 



Firma Georg Kaletsch. Obcrmenzing-Miinchen, representation 

 and sale of rubber goods. 



Wcstdeutsche Regenmantclfabriken Kattenburg & Co., Bocholt. 

 Manufacture and sale of raincoats. 



Kongo Gummi-Gesellschaft Chormann & Tornquist m. b. H., 

 Hamburg. Sale of "Kongo" rubber soles and heels put on the 

 market by Wcstdeutsche Gummi-Compagnie H. Chorman, Dus- 

 seldorf, all business connected therewith and sale of allied goods. 



Erste Ostpreussische Koutschuk-nnd Mctallstcmpclfabrik E. 

 Rrlatis, Konigsberg, Prussia. Manufacture of rubber and metal 

 stamps. 



Gummi-Handelsgesellschaft "Liga" Baetzner & Co., Stuttgart. 



Antonie Rustbacher, Vienna. Sale of rubber goods. 



Katherina Breuer, Vienna. Dealer in rubber goods. 



Oskar Bauer, Vienna. Dealer in rubber goods. 



Herman Klose, Leipzig-Gohlis. Representation of rubber 

 goods firms. 



