426 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Sepiember i, 1904. 



RUBBER INTERESTS IN EUROPE. 



THE INDUSTRY DEPRESSED IN PORTUGAL. 



THE solitary rubber goods factory in Portugal has not been 

 able of late to make as good a showing as in some for- 

 mer years. The Compagnie du Caoutchouc, Monopole du 

 Portugal, was organized in Belgium, March 5, 1898, with the 

 exclusive privilege of manufacturing rubber goods in Portugal 

 for ten years, with 1,000,000 francs capital. The company was 

 financed by L'Africaine, Banque d Etudes et d'Enterprises Co- 

 loniales, of Brussels, and a factory was erected at Lisbon. At 

 the annual meeting of the shareholders, at Brussels, on July 19, 

 five of those present refrained from voting to approve the bal- 

 ance sheet presented for 1903, and one shareholder moved for 

 the liquidation of the company, urging that the business con- 

 stantly grew worse. The executive committee, however, thought 

 it wiser to await the results of the current year, and this view 

 prevailed. Part of the company's assets is in shares of la Com- 

 pagnie du Luabo and le Comptoir Commercial de Benguella, 

 engaged in rubber trading in Africa, the shares of which show 

 a decline. The different securities held by the Compagnie du 

 Caoutchouc are now valued at only 378,688 francs, a decline 

 since 1902 of more than 370,000 francs. The amount of busi- 

 ness done in 1903 is reported at 44 per cent, more than in 1902. 

 but the profit failed to cover the general expenses; the high 

 tariff on some materials used was favorable to foreign competi- 

 tion, and concessions in prices had to be made in order to se- 

 cure business. But the patronage of a great establishment in 

 Lisbon leads to the hope of better things, and the volume of 

 business since January 1 is reported to be 25 per cent, greater 

 than for the same period of last year. 



FORTY YEAR JUBILEE OF DIRECTOR BRUCK. 

 Herr Heinrich Bruck, the general director of the Leip- 

 ziger Gummiwaaren Fabrik, Aktiengesellschaft, on July 1 cele- 

 brated the fortieth anniversary of his connection with that fac- 

 tory, which dates from the establishment of the business, in 

 1864, by the late Julius Marx. This was a pioneer concern in 

 the manufacture of surgical rubber goods in Germany, and had 

 attained wide renown under the name of Julius Marx, Heine & 

 Co. by 1886, when the undertaking was transformed into a 

 joint stock company, under the name first given above. Herr 

 Bruck has been intimately connected with the development of 

 this important branch of the rubber industry, and by his capac- 

 ity and energy has contributed largely to keeping his company 

 in the front rank of manufacturers of surgical rubber goods. 

 The sale of the Leipzig products is no longer confined to the 

 home market, but extends to every leading country on the 

 globe. Herr Bruck, by reason of his age, is honorary president 

 of the surgical rubber goods manufacturers' association of 

 Germany. He is a member of the board of the Zentralvereins 

 Deutscher Kautschukwaren-Fabriken (Association of German 

 Rubber Goods Manufacturers), and of the association in the 

 chemical industry, besides which he is an alderman of the 

 city of Leipzig and a member of its chamber of commerce, all 

 of which indicates the high reputation and confidence which 

 he enjoys in industrial and commercial circles. The capital 

 of the Leipzig company is 1,200,000 marks. 



MICHELIN TO MANUFACTURE IN ENGLAND. 

 Messrs. Michelin & Cie., the important rubber manu- 

 facturers of Clermont-Ferrand, France, announce that they are 

 forming an English company under the name of The Michelin 

 Tyre Co., Limited, for the purpose of manufacturing and sell- 

 ing their tires in Great Britain. The company will begin work 

 at the end of October on the expiry of the " Clincher " tire pat- 



ent of the late William Erskine Bartlett, No. 16,348, applied for 

 October 14, 1890. This is the first announcement relative to 

 changed conditions in the British tire trade, following the ex- 

 piration of the important patents owned by the Dunlop Pneu- 

 matic Tyre Co., Limited, the other patent being that of Charles 

 K. Welch, No, 14,563, applied for September 16, 1890. It has 

 been suggested that, in view of the continued high price of 

 rubber, there is not likely to be a rush of new firms into the tire 

 manufacturing field, now that the protection granted by these 

 patents has come loan end. Our English contemporary makes 

 the interesting observation that out of the large number of 

 British patents taken out for tires during September, 1890, the 

 only one still in vogue is, the Welch patent for wired on tires, 

 all the others having become void ; very few were kept going 

 by the payment of the annual fees required by the patent office, 

 after the first few years. 



NOTES. 



The London offices and warehouse of the Continental Caout- 

 chouc and Guttapercha Co. have been removed from Holborn 

 viaduct to much more extensive premises at 102, Clerkenwell 

 Road, E. C, where facilities exist for a large increase in busi- 

 ness which the company anticipate in view of the expiration of 

 the patents controlled by the Dunlop company. 



= The two sons of Sigmund Beer (Julius and Robert), agent 

 in Vienna for the Liverpool Rubber Co., Limited, have been 

 admitted as partners in the business, the registered style of 

 which has become Sigmund Beer u. Sonne, and the location 

 Mariahilferstrasse 101. 



= The Moskauer Gummimanufaktur-Gesellschaft (Moscow, 

 Russia), makes no return of profits for the year 1903. The 

 capital and reserve are reported at 1,986,000 rubles [=$1- 

 022,790!. 



MORE BAHIA (BRAZIL) RUBBER IN SIGHT. 



THE German Consul at Bahia reports [May 23] : " In future 

 calculations must be made on the basis of considerably 

 larger receipts. In the statistics at hand no division is made 

 of the rubber sorts, and they relate only to maniyoba and 

 mangabeira — principally the former. For 15 kilograms mani- 

 goba rubber 75 to 80 milreis, and for mangabeira 55 to 60 mil- 

 reis, are paid at present. In the interior of the state large 

 forests exist, which have not been exploited, their existence 

 being hitherto unknown. The government granted, in Sep- 

 tember, 1903, a concession to Colonel Pedro Calmon Freire 

 Bittencourt, for the legitimate exploitation of manicoba and 

 mangabeira within the public lands of the districts of Jequie\ 

 Maracas, and Pocoes. This month a large concession was 

 granted to the two proprietors of the .German firm Von der 

 Linde & Co., of Bahia, for a district comprising 15,000 square 

 kilometers. Towards the end of next month an expedition 

 will be sent there to make arrangements for systematic ex- 

 ploitation. Although the location, ownership, and possession 

 of the land in the interior are not quite clear, it is expected 

 that the concessionaires will take advantage of their granted 

 preferences over others likewise interested, and, in combina- 

 tion with the inhabitants there, gain control of the rub- 

 ber production. The opening up of a district, which had been 

 wholly left to itself, may cause a back action in the import 

 conditions because on exploitation of the wild cotton, which 

 grows abundantly in the district, will likely be taken up at the 

 same time. It is the intention of Von der Linde & Co., as also 

 that of the Brazilian concessionaire who has heretofore brought 

 in only small quantities, through careful treatmentof the product 

 and the preservation of the forests, to obtain a clean product." 



