March 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



281 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondcuf. 



THE TRADING 

 POSITION. 



THE raw rubber market still keeps in a favorable state for 

 trade in its tips and downs of a few pence per pound, and 

 if this state of afifairs continues we are not likely to have 

 any repetition of such trading losses as have been referred to 

 previously, as having occurred during last year in both large and 

 small factories. It is rarely possible for 

 firms when making selling contracts 

 for a twelve-month supply of goods to 

 cover their raw rubber requirements for more than three months 

 ahead ; so it will be at once recognized how disastrous a rise of 

 shillings per pound may prove in the case of stfch contracts. 

 There has been a good deal of speculation as to how those firms 

 which do not publish their accounts got on during late years, but 

 there is little likelihood of the inquisitive obtaining enlighten- 

 ment on the point. Some idea may certainly be gained where' 

 changes of personnel have occurred, it being common to blaine 

 foremen and managers in the case of bad results, rather than for 

 directors to indulge in recrimination among themselves. I don't 

 know whether the loss shown by the Peter Union Tire Co. is to 

 be attributed to any one specially adverse factor, but they have 

 certainly been prominently identified with the supply of motor- 

 bus tires in London under the mileage contract system. Other 

 tire firms tell me that at present cut prices, this has become a 

 rather hazardous business, necessitating a considerable floating 

 capital. Where the profits are as small as they are now, there is 

 a good chance of their vanishing in a business like this, where so 

 much depends on the honesty and carefulness of those whose ac- 

 tions it is impossible to keep under continual supervision. With 

 regard to the publication of large dividends, it is said that 

 although this may give a correct impression of prosperity due to 

 good management, it has its drawbacks as leading to continual 

 deiliands from customers for a reduction in prices. "Vou are 

 making big profits,"' they say, "and are, therefore, easily able to 

 reduce your prices." 



Of course shareholders have their own way of looking at the 

 matter, but a manufacturer tells me that it is better to pay only 

 moderate dividends up to 10 per cent, and to put excess profits 

 into a reserve fund. The Leyland & Birmingham declared their 

 usual 5 per cent, interim dividend at the end of the year, but the 

 actual result of the last six months' trading will not transpire 

 until the end of their financial year, which is now at the end of 

 June. Apropos of what I have said above with regard to tire 

 contracts, I may add that the London Genera! Omnibus Co. has 

 recently placed orders for 500 sets of tires, of which I under- 

 stand 300 ha\e gone to the Dunlop Co. The fact that one im- 

 portant tire firm declined to bid supports what I have said as to 

 the somewhat hazardous nature of the business today. 



Mr. Arthur Mallaby, who was for some time connected with 

 the Non-Suction Ruliber Co., and later with the Hayclitf^e Rubber 

 Co.. both of Bradford, Yorkshire, has 

 severed his connection with the latter 

 firm and has started rubber works at 

 Lower Mills, Brimscombe, Gloucestershire, under the style of 

 Mallaby & Co. This is a new industry for this rural district, 

 though a precedent for invading an agricultural community is 

 to be found in the cases of the Avon Rubber Co., the Sirdar Rub- 

 ber Co., Wallington & Weston and Spencer Moulton & Co.. 

 whose various works are about thirty miles away from Brims- 

 combe. The availabilit}', in many cases, of water power, cheap 

 labor and trifling rent and rates are important advantages ac- 

 cruing to those who leave the large manufacturing centres to 

 penetrate into the country, and the latest recruit is certainly well 



NEW 

 ■WORKS. 



placed as regards the above advantages. There are two water 

 wheels at Lower Mills generating 40 horsepower, in addition to 

 a large boiler and 90 horsepower steam engine. The business 

 to be done will be largely concerned with all kinds of tubing, 

 cords, hose, piping, etc., though the manufacture of general 

 mechanical rubber goods will be carried on. A rubber heel de- 

 partment is also to be installed. One important point about these 

 rural rubber works is the improved conditions under which the 

 operatives live compared with their brethren in the towns, and 

 when it is said that labor is cheap it must be remembered that 

 so are house rent and agricultural produce. 



The heavy snowfall in the northern districts in the middle of 

 January led to the usual sudden demand for goloshes, a de- 

 mand which efifected a good clearance of 

 FOOTWEAR. stocks in Manchester, Liverpool and 



Aher large towns. The increasing use 

 of salt to liquify the snow in our streets has had a good deal to 

 do with the rise of the golosh into favor. Where ten years ago 

 one only saw one or two pairs of goloshes or snow boots in the 

 cloak rooms of the large clubs, now one sees them in dozens, a 

 sufficient testimony to the revulsion of feeling. The announce- 

 ment of "Boston'' rubbers is now quite general in boot shops 

 up and down the country. As long, however, as goloshes are 

 only generally worn in times of snowfall, I do not see how the 

 business done can be a very large one, because snow storms are 

 not at all frequent, and a pair of goloshes will last a good many 

 years, if only occasionally worn. With regard to the leather boot 

 trade which some years ago was seriously threatened by imports 

 of American machine-made boots, things have righted them- 

 selves by the Leicester and Northampton firms importing .Aineri- 

 can machinery and working on American lines, a prominent fea- 

 ture being the elimination of hand labor. When I say things 

 have righted themselves, I refer mainly to the fact that the export 

 of American boots to Great Britain has largely decreased since 

 a similar class of goods has been made in England. In other 

 ways I think the movement is retrogressive, as the showy, cheap 

 machine boot is not as watertight or lasting as the old hand- 

 made boot, and one hears continual complaints of damp an,d 

 leaky boots which will not stand repairs. As we seem to have 

 entered on an era of cheap machine-made boots with these pro- 

 pensities for leaking, it seems to be inevitable that the wearing 

 of goloshes will increase, being extended from the occasional 

 snow storm periods to the much more general times of rain 

 and nnid. 



The prospectus of the Northern Counties Transport, Limited, 

 was advertised on January 22, and it seems timely to say a few 

 words of reference thereto. The share 

 capital is i50.000 ; £45.000 in participating 

 7 per cent, preferred shares and £5,000 

 deferred shares. The latter have been fully subscribed 

 by a number of men whose names appear in the pros- 

 pectus, and £30,000 of the preferred shares were offered to the 

 public. Motor haulage is now increasingly used in the industrial 

 districts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and it is thought that a 

 company owning a large fleet of motor vehicles under competent 

 management can earn large profits and save money; for firms 

 which now use horse or railway haulage, rapidity of transit be- 

 iu'j an important feature. The company is to commence with 

 100 vehicles, being motor lorries with chassis of the Milnes- 

 Daimler manufacture. These vehicles are being purchased from 

 a previous company called Express Road Haulage, Limited, of 

 Preston, at the price of £300 each. They carry a load of four 



NEW TRANSPORT 

 COMPANY. 



