July i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



343 



Bolivar are holding their stocks and that also the regular col- 

 lectors in the forest have stopped work. He suggests that it 

 is being obtained elsewhere. Certainly the Guianas have of 

 late got back to something like their old figures of production 

 but I imagine that the root of the evil complained of is that the 

 supply has overstepped the demand. I have not heard of any 

 new demand in this country or that the principal users have 

 increased their purchases to any material extent. In fact it is 

 quite possible that the demand has decreased owing to the sub- 

 stitution of the rubber cored golf ball for the old type made of 

 solid gutta. It is an open secret that Balata entered pretty 

 largely into the composition of the solid gutta ball and the de- 

 creased demand for this type of ball seems a very feasible 

 explanation of the present depression in Venezuela. 



There seems to be something of an upset in this market as 

 far as retail prices are concerned. One reads in the shop win- 

 dows that the 35. 6d. sponge can now be obtained for 

 2s. yi. and small ones are now priced as low as y%d.. 

 though for a long time the lowest price was 2s. The 

 bulk of those on offer bear a label inscribed with Slav charac- 

 ters, the import of which is rather a mystery to the great bulk 

 of purchasers. I have not yet heard of any British firm put- 

 ting this article on the market. 



To judge by the newspaper notices and expressions of public 



interest one would imagine that the use of rubber pavement, 



as in the entrance to the new buildings of the 



rubber Savoy Hotel, London, was a novelty of to-day. 



PAVEMENTS- ' ' ' 



It is no reflection, however, on Messrs. Charles 

 Macintosh & Co., Limited, whose work has just attraced so much 

 attention, to say that the North British Rubber Co., Limited, 

 put down, many years ago, at Euston station, rubber pavement 

 of a similar nature. It is somewhat surprising, when we come 

 to consider the advantages of such pavement from points of 

 view other than its wearing capacity, that it has not been util- 

 ized to a greater extent under like circumstances; perhaps a 

 fillip will now be given to this branch, though with rubber at 

 its present price the time seems none too favorable. 



The tenor of the report made by the Automobile Club on 



the extended trials of side slip preventives, is to the effect 



that the desired effect has not yet been obtained. 



side slip kty p ro f ess i ona i profits are not such as to permit 

 of the purchase of a thousand guinea car, so that I 

 cannot speak from personal experience, but from what my 

 friends tell me, it would seem that the best way to prevent 

 side slip is to stay at home when the going is greasy. The 

 various devices of metal studs, leather bands, etc., are said to 

 be certainly effective to a greater or less extent, but at the same 

 time they detract from the life of the rubber and lead, therefore, 

 to additional expense of up-keep. 



The fear that the damages for libel awarded against Captain 



Guy Burrows, for certain statements in his book (" The Curse of 



Central Africa"), would prove a severe 



CONOO , , , /-. ■ _• r- 1 j 



maladministration, knock to the Congo agitation in England, 

 has been falsified by the event. Earl Percy 

 has just declared in the House of Commons that "it is impos- 

 sible to excuse a system under which the collection of rubber 

 is made an excuse for insensate and inhuman barbarities." It 

 is clear, from the attitude of both sides of the House and from 

 what has transpired at public meetings throughout the country, 

 that the nation generally is deeply stirred in the matter. In 

 this we seem to have only America and Italy with us, the case 

 being, it appears, not of sufficient commercial interest to the 

 other Powers to call for their active interest. As matters stand 

 at present there seems no immediate likelihood of action by the 

 Powers in concert, but Lord Lansdowne has got a pledge from 



the Congo State government that an exhaustive inquiry shall 

 be held into the whole character of the administration and the 

 conduct of local officials and licensed companies. It hardly 

 seems that this sort of inquiry will be strong enough, and it 

 would not be surprising if the result went to show that the 

 whole agitation was got up by merchants from mercenary 

 motives, as so strongly alleged in Brussels. 



During the short space of time in which trains between 



Southport and Liverpool have been worked by electricity two 



fatal accidents have occurred, owing to contact 



electrical with the "live" rail. The public excitement 



danqer Y has natura "y Deen aroused to the annoyance of 



the contractors, Messrs. Dick, Kerr & Co., who 



point out that in each case the victims were trespassers on the 



line. This certainly is the case, but if such fatalities continue 



serious doubts will arise as to the advisability of adopting this 



system of electrification in populous districts, and this may lead 



to a setback in what promised to be a revolution in suburban 



railway working. 



I understand that Messrs. Johnson & Phillips, the well 

 known electric cable manufacturers of Charlton, near London, 

 intend to convert their business from a private 

 jottings ' nt0 a P UD '' C limited company, and that Mr. Claud 

 Johnson, the principal partner, intends to relin- 

 quish active interest in the concern. The capital with which 

 the new company is credited is in the neighborhood of half a 

 million, but I have good reason to suppose that ,£400,000 is the 

 correct figure. = = On May 28 a party of members of the Insti- 

 tution of Marine Engineers visited the Silvertown works of the 

 India Rubber, Gutta Percha, and Telegraph Works Co., Limit- 

 ed. The visit is noteworthy because of the great disinclination 

 evinced by British rubber manufacturers to allow visitors to go 

 through the works. Messrs. Siemens & Co., the electric cable 

 makers, are an exception to this, but it is the common thing 

 to see in the waiting room some such notice as " Visitors are 

 respectfully informed that they cannot be admitted to the 

 works." 



BY the death at Cannes in the spring of Mr. T. G. Douglas, 



Sr., the North British Rubber Co., Limited, has lost the chief 



guiding spirit in its works management. For 



personal more than 40 years the deceased had control of 



MENTION. , 



the manufacturing operations, coming over from 

 America somewhere in the fifties.* The circumstance which 

 led to the advent of Mr. Douglas in Edinburg and the energy 

 which he showed in widening the scope of his company's oper- 

 ations, form a very prominent chapter in the life history of the 

 big Edinburg factory. It is perhaps hardly necessary to say 

 that the deceased must not be confounded with his son, who 

 has been for many years manager of the proofing department 

 in the works. ==The official announcement made by the Hyde 

 Rubber Works, Limited, to the effect that Mr. G. W. Dawes 

 had relinquished his position in the management, came in the 

 light of a surprise to many, seeing what a prominent part he had 

 taken in the foundation of the present company. ==I am glad 

 to be able to say that Mr. Coutts, of the Erwell and Eastern 

 Rubber Co., Limited, has recovered from his somewhat pro- 

 longed illness, and is back again controlling the works manage- 

 ment. ==Mr. J. E. Baxter of the Leyland and Birmingham Rub- 

 ber Co., Limited, has returned to England after a lengthy tour 

 in South Africa. I gather that there is no project on hand to 

 start the rubber manufacture in the new colonies, though of 

 course there are great potentialities for retail business develop- 

 ment. 



* Mr. Douglas went to Edinburgh from the factory of L. Candee & Co iNew 

 Haven, Connecticut), the oldest rubber shoe factory in existence.— The Editor. 



