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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July i, 1904. 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE high price of rubber, and the continued short time 

 movement in the Lancashire cotton trade, are prov- 

 ing adverse factors of some moment with regard 

 to the mechanical rubber trade. There can be no 

 doubt that the class of merchants known as mill furnishers 

 have been experiencing a bad time. But little 

 high price f t he rubber used in the mills and workshops of 



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industrial Lancashire and Yorkshire is ordered 

 at first hand, the mill furnisher, as middleman, still holding an 

 important position, from which it must be said the rubber man- 

 ufacturer has no wish to oust him, owing to so many of the 

 orders being of small magnitude. With regard to the cause of 

 the high price of the raw material the manufacturer hazards 

 various theories in his rage and impotence, these theories, be it 

 said, being of a diversified character. Meeting the other day a 

 merchant engaged in the rubber export trade in Brazil, I asked 

 him his opinion as to the cause of the rise in price. His answer 

 was immediate and concise : " It is the greed of your millionaire 

 rubber merchants in England ; it is they who are making money 

 out of a situation which they have created ; there are not for- 

 tunes being made out of rubber in Brazil." I give this answer 

 for what it is worth. Of course there may bean effective reply 

 from the other side. In the event of such being forthcoming, I 

 have no doubt the Editor will accord it an equal publicity. 

 Those who read their India Rubber World diligently will 

 notice in the last issue the remark of a Brazilian merchant to 

 the effect that any rise in the price of rubber goes to benefit 

 those who engage and fit out the seringuieros. My informant, 

 however, was not inclined to accede to this view, but was em- 

 phatic that all the large profits were made in Liverpool.* 



The excuse put forward by sundry shoemakers who have got 

 into financial diffculties is, that the repairing branch of their 



businesses has fallen off considerably, owing to the 

 rubber introduction of the rubber heel. That this plaint 



has some foundation in fact cannot be denied, for 

 it is quite surprising the amount of business which is being done 

 in this line. On enquiry of one of our largest rubber firms the 

 other day as to the state of trade, I found that despite quiet- 

 ness in some branches, the rubber heel demand kept them quite 

 busy, the output indeed being as much as five tons per day. 

 No doubt it would be incorrect to multiply this figure by 300 

 or so to get an estimate of the yearly business, but still this 

 daily production, even if only intermittent, seems worth special 

 mention. 



Elsewhere I have made a remark on the Ceard tree in Cey- 

 lon, and now propose to say a word or two on this rubber in 



general. The Ceara or manicoba rubber has, in 

 ceara Great Britain, at any rate, always held a rather 



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doubtful position, though I am not aware that the 

 statement as to liability to decay is based on any very sure 

 foundation. In my own experience the premature decay of a 

 large number of cycle tire covers was attributed to the fact of 

 Ceara rubber being almost exclusively used, but it is open to 

 question whether incorrect vulcanization had not a good deal 

 to do with it. The chief objection urged against the rubber to- 



* It would be interesting to know whether, il the opinion of the merchant 

 quoted by our correspondent, "the millionaire rubber merchants in England " 

 make profits also on the rubber shipped direct from the Amazon river to New 

 York— one half or more of the entire Para output.— The Editor. 



day is the variable amount of impurities it contains, and it is 

 clear that those who are desirous of seeing the market for this 

 rubber extended should look closely into this matter. It is 

 really only a matter of carelessness, or perhaps greed, on the 

 part of the collectors. The rubber as it slowly exudes from the 

 cut could be pulled off the tree in quite a clean condition, but 

 the collector prefers to do this work with his knife, which action 

 brings off a considerable amount of bark to increase the bulk of 

 the rubber. Ceard rubber which comes to Europe may lose 

 over 30 per cent., and its purchase is felt to be rather too much 

 of a speculation. That the amount exported from Ceara could 

 be largely augmented both from wild and cultivated there is no 

 doubt, and it is interesting to note that a Frenchman has a large 

 plantation of the trees in the state, the product of which will 

 be shortly on the market. In all probability our manufacturers 

 will soon be in a position to judge of the properties of the rub- 

 ber without the uncertainty regarding the loss on washing 

 which has been so much against it in the past. 



Still on the topic of raw rubber, a fact which has recently 



come to my notice seems worthy of record. Some years ago 



a South American merchant who was exporting 



rather some Pernambuco rubber to a British rubber man- 



doubtful u f actur ing fi rm , suggested to the latter that as this 



ADVICE. & • s& 



class of rubber was carelessly collected and often 

 badly coagulated by the alum method, he would probably ob- 

 tain a better price if it was sold free from resinous matters. A 

 leading official of the firm, however, informed him that they 

 preferred the rubber in its sticky state, and stated further that 

 if he took the resins out they would have to replace them. Now 

 this may be quite true for the particular work the firm in 

 question wanted the rubber for, but it led the inquirer for years 

 to believe that resinous matters formed an important part of tl e 

 rubber. I am sure that there have been plenty of buyers of 

 Pernambuco rubber in the past who would gladly have dis- 

 pensed with its "tarry " components, and it seems unfortunate 

 that the suggested reform should have been abandoned conse- 

 quent on the above statement made to an exporter. 



Anything I may say on this subject will no doubt prove 

 rather flat and uninteresting during the publication of our 



Editor's travel notes, but perhaps a word or two 

 ceylon ( rom London by way of addendum will not be alto- 



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gether out of place. I have recently had some con- 

 versation with a Ceylon planter of many years standing now 

 taking a holiday in England. From what he said they seem to 

 be more than satisfied with the prices obtained for the Pari 

 rubber. I suggested that when shipments in larger bulk are 

 affected the price would probably fall. He agreed with me in 

 this prognostication but did not seem at all upset by the idea 

 as indeed there seemed no reason to considering the figures he 

 gave me as to the cost of production. On turning the conver- 

 sation over to Ceara rubber I struck a regretful chord in his 

 mind. " If we had never heard of Ceard rubber," he said, " at 

 the time when we introduced it about 20 years ago, we should 

 have been much better off than we are to-day." 



A friend of mine who is engaged in mining operations in 

 Venezuela writes to know if I can tell him what is the matter 



with the Balata market over here. He says that 

 balata tne 3 a i ata business is in a very bad state owing to 



the low price, and that the merchants in Ciudad 



