266 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March 1, 1912. 



MOTOR TIRES IN BARBADOS. 



By a Traveling Correspondent. 



'T'HE Island of Barbados as a centre assembles on its shores 

 *• South Americans, winter visitors from Europe and America, 

 as well as many from other West Indian Islands. Demerara, 

 Surinam, etc. 



There are some 400 odd miles of good hard main roads, and 

 one can always hire carriages or automobiles. The first auto- 

 mobile was imported in 1898. It was a Waltham Orient with the 

 engine on the rear axle. Since then 209 cars have been cleared 

 through the customs. Ma.xwell, Buick, Regal, Franklin, Ford, 

 Hudson. Locomobile, Overland, Hupp and Brush, are some of 

 the American cars seen. The Humber and Vulcan are the 

 favorite English cars. The .'\merican cars, light and moderate ■ 

 in price, seem to be the favorites. 



Cars arrive here fitted with various tires: Goodrich, Diamond, 

 Michelin, Ajax, Hartford, Goodyear, Firestone, Fisk, Empire and 

 others. Among English tires the Dunlop seems to be the favorite. 

 A Humber touring car equipped with these tires has covered over 

 7,000 miles on these roads, and the tires still seem to be in 

 excellent condition. Thirty by 3'/i is the average size of tires, 

 although there are some 28-inch as well as some 32-inch and 

 34-inch. The tires wear out on the tread ; very few are rim cut. 

 During wet weather when tlie coral roads become very slippery 

 chains are used. 



Three concerns handle tires ; The Bridgetown Garage, the 

 Barbados Garage, and the Fisk Agency. There is a duty of 10 

 per cent, ad valorem on tires. The English manufacturers allow 

 15 per cent, trade discount and the American only 5 per cent. 

 The American tires cost about $2 more than the English. About 

 $10,000 worth of automobile tires are handled in Barbados every 

 year. The Bridgetown Garage handles about half. The re- 

 mainder are imported by owners and the agencies. 



Old and worn out tires are shipped back to the manufacturers. 

 About 250 inner tubes are used annually, largely Dunlop, Dia- 

 mond and Michelin (Universal rims). Goodyear no-cut rims are 

 used quite generally ; a few of the old solid rims are seen, and 

 some Goodrich Quick Detachables. There are only seven motor- 

 cycles on the island. The law requires the registration of all 

 bicycles, and the register at St. Michael shows some 725. There 

 are about 100 more distributed through the other districts of the 

 island. 



The Rambler and Pope were among the first bicycles brought 

 in. They were equipped with the G. & J. and Hartford tires. 

 Afterwards the English bicycles dropped in price, and they 

 gradually superseded those of American make. Many Humber 

 and Ridge-Whitworth bicycles are seen, and the Dunlop, War- 

 wick, Liberty, Ridge-Whitworth tires are used. They are sup- 

 plied by the North-British Rubber Co., Limited. 



There is a well equipped tire repair department at the Bridge- 

 town garage. A most comfortable work-shop it is, whose lat- 

 ticed sides insure a comparatively cool and airy interior. There 

 is a steam vulcanizer heated by alcohol, which does good work. 



There are over 100 rubber-tired carriages in the island. The 

 solid tires last from three to nine months and generally average 

 about 3.000 miles. The train tracks are most destructive to them, 

 and those without wires are sometimes ripped off and badly cut. 

 Then, too, where the roads are being repaired, the many hard 

 sharp bits of coral cut a tire badly. The light runabouts use a 

 1-inch tire, and the heavier carriages require a 1^-inch or 1 fl- 

 inch tire. About 2,500 feet of the solid Goodyear tire are used 

 yearly on the island. The Hazel-Grove rubber tire made in 

 England is also used to some extent, about 700 feet a year. 

 The duty on both the English and American solid tiring is 10 

 per cent. 



BRAZILIAN RUBBER LEGISLATION. 



'T'llR()l(iH the approval by the Brazilian National Congress 

 •*■ before closing its session at the end of December, the 

 project formulated in August last by the Rubber Congress held 

 at Rio de Janeiro became law, with certain modifications ; receiv- 

 ing the Presidential assent on January 5. Such a result was 

 due to the adoption of more reasonable tactics on the part of the 

 opposition than had been recently displayed, and which, it had 

 been anticipated, would frustrate the efforts of the government to 

 obtain a decision before the Brazilian Congress was dissolved. 



In the issue of October. 1911 (page 7). The Indi.\ Rubber 

 WoRi.ii published a synopsis of the project as it had then been 

 formulated by the Commission selected for that purpose from the 

 ranks of the delegates. 



.^s now passed by the National Congress the decrees may be 

 thus summarized : 



1. Exemption from import duties of appliances for rubber pro- 

 duction ; subject to investigation by customs authorities. 



2. Money prizes of stated amounts for entirely new plantations. 

 ( Original draft had included the graduation of such prizes ac- 

 cording to outlay during year before the productive period). 



3. Establishment of experimental stations at certain points. 



4. Award of prizes to the first refining plants reducing the 

 various qualities to a uniform type for export, and for the estab- 

 lishment of the first rubber goods factory in certain States. 

 (Original project Sections 5 and 6.) 



5. Construction of three hospitals and organization of a suitable 

 staff for their service. (Original Section 7.) 



6. Construction of new railroads. (Original Section 8.) 



7. E.xemption from duty of products intended to promote river 

 navigation. 



8. Establishment of coal depots at .-Kmnzon points. 



9. Measures tending to reduce cost of provisions. 



10. Adjustment of land titles. (Original Section 9.) 



11. Holding of triennial expositions. (Original Section 10.) 



12. Restriction to States of Para. .Amazonas and Matto Grosso 

 of the gradual reduction of rubber export duties by SO per cent., 

 provided by Section 4 of the original project. 



13. Authorization of special regulations as to the Territory of 

 Acre. 



14. Provision nf necessary funds. 



15. Contrary enactments abolished. 



The principal features of the original project seem to have 

 been retained, with the exception of the change in clause 4 of 

 basis of awarding prizes and the limitations by clause 12 to 

 certain States of the graduated reduction in export duty. The 

 Executive authority is authorized to enter into an agreement 

 with the States of Para, Amazonas and Malto Grosso, with the 

 view of a gradual reduction of 10 per cent, (up to the maximum 

 reduction of SO per cent.) in the present rate of export duties 

 imposed by those States upon the rubber produced within their 

 territories ; and exemption from all tax of such rubber within 

 the term of 25 years from date of this law. After the conclusion 

 of such agreements, negotiations will be permissible as to rubber 

 from the Federal District of Acre. 



John C. Wn.us, m.a., sen., formerly director of the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, and a well known lecturer and writer 

 on various phases of rubber planting, has been appointed director 

 of the Botanic Gardens at Rio de Janeiro and will sail from 

 England April 4, to assume the duties of his new position. 



A BOOK for everybody interested in tires — "Rubber Tires and 

 .'Ml About Them" — this office. 



The accepted authority on South American rubber- 

 Rubber Country of the Amazon," by Henry C. Pearson. 



-The 



The accepted authority on South American rubber — "The 

 Rubber Country of the .A-mazon," bv Henrv C. Pearson. 



