320 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February 1, 1920. 



of spare government buildings for this or ihat trade purpose, 

 and manufacturers interested have generally opposed them. It 

 will be interesting to see if anything of the sort occurs in this 

 case. 



The report of the India Rubber, Gulta Pcrcha and Telegraph 

 Works Co., Limited, of Silvertown, shows a profit of £71,913, a 

 reduction on last year. This is stated to be due to the various 

 difficulties arising out of the reconstruction period, leading to a 

 diminution in output. 



At the annual meeting of W. & A. Bates, Limited, Leicester, 

 when there was declared a profit of M2,972 and a dividend of 

 10 per cent for the year, the chairman, P. H. Lockhart, spoke 

 at length on the importance of motor transport in the present 

 congested state of the railways, saying that arrangements are 

 being made to cover every town and village in the county by 

 a motor system. Mr. Lockhart is now with Ale.x Johnstone 

 and J. Tinto, a vice-president of the Federation of British In- 

 dustries. 



During a violent gale, which occurred on the day predicted 

 for the end of the world, considerable damage was done to the 

 Globe Rubber Works, Manchester, a huge shed about 200 feet 

 long being lifted bodily from its supports and carried 20 or 30 

 feet by the wind until it crashed into the firm's offices. 



William Symington & Co., Limited, 22 Fenchurch street, Lon- 

 don, E. C. 3, has changed its name to "General Rubber Co., Ltd.," 

 in order to have a uniform style for all branches in the various 

 rubber-producing and consumnig markets of the world. 



Hale & Son, 10 Fenchurch avenue, London, E. C. 3, dealers 

 in crude rubber, have taken William B. J. Home into partner- 

 ship. Mr. Home has been associated with the firm for the last 

 fourteen years. 



While $25,000,000 worth of first-class American automobile 

 tires were allowed to rot at Verneuil, France, according to the 

 "American Economist," the British Government made arrange- 

 ments by which the Hercules Tyre Co. will take over the sale of 

 all the pneumatic tires and tubes discarded by the British army 

 in France. Some of these have been sent to the French works, 

 the others are returning by shiploads to England from Mar- 

 seilles, Calais, Boulogne and St. Malo. 



Liverpool imported from the United States in 1918 gutta 

 percha of the value of $703,676, and manufactured rubber goods 

 valued at $910,399, motor cars and rubber tires and tubes valued 

 at $517,279, rubber shoes valued at $254,774. and waterproof gar- 

 ments worth $67,785. 



BRITISH KEY INDUSTRIES TO BE PROTECTED. 



THE IMPORTANT RESTRICTIONS intended to shield British indus- 

 try during the period of demobilization and of change from 

 war to peace conditions came to an end September 1, and the 

 future trade policy of the United Kingdom as announced by the 

 Prime Minister embraces three proposals of interest to the rubber 

 industry of the world. They are that Parliament deal effectively 

 with dumping; that it equip the Board of Trade with emergency 

 powers to check a sudden and undue importation of goods at 

 prices altogether below the cost of production in the United 

 Kingdom, owing to the collapse of exchanges; also that the 

 Board of Trade be empowered to prohibit the import, except 

 under license, of goods which are in competition with key in- 

 dustries. 



Their object is to defend the United Kingdom against unfair 

 competition that might destroy certain unstable key industries 

 that could not be maintained in the face of extensive dumping of 

 foreign goods beneath the price at which they are sold in the 

 country where produced, and of German goods at exchange rates 

 so extravagantly in favor of Great Britain that the goods would 



sell at prices not only lower than those current in Germany, but 

 lower than the cost of production in Great Britain. By unstable 

 key industries is meant those essential for war or the main- 

 tenance of the country during war ; those of inadequate pro- 

 ducing capacity to meet the nation's war needs ; those requiring 

 Government aid in war time, and those unable without such aid 

 to maintain themselves at the level of production shown by war 

 to be essential to the national life. 



That the British rubber goods manufacturing industry is essen- 

 tial for war is obvious, and that the United Kingdom desires to 

 maintain its independence in the manufacture as well as the pro- 

 duction of rubber is certain. The high American exchange rate 

 is unfavorable to England, yet while the determination to aban- 

 don further support of exchanges may cause a further rise in 

 American exchange, and will doubtless increase the cost of 

 many raw materials obtained from America, it will also raise a 

 higher barrier against the import of American manufactured 

 goods which are considered essential to stimulate greater home 

 production. 



Thus far rubber products have not been specifically mentioned 

 among the key industries to be protected, although certain raw 

 materials used in the manufacture of rubber goods have been 

 listed. Pending legislation, a general license under Prohibition 

 of Import Proclamations will be issued by the Board of Trade, 

 having effect as from September 1, 1919, and authorizing the 

 importation into the United Kingdom of all goods not specified 

 in a list consisting of synthetic drugs, organic chemicals and 

 numerous miscellaneous commodities, the only items of prime 

 interest to the rubber industry being zinc oxide and lithopone. 



The preferential tariff dating from September 1 last, which 

 explicitly favors goods coming from British colonies and pos- 

 sessions, takes the place of the war restrictions which expired in 

 August. Under these restrictions foreign tires could not be 

 imported free. The new tariff arranges that motor cars and 

 parts thereof "from the colonies shall pay only two-thirds of the 

 full rate." The British Rubber Tyre Manufacturers' Association, 

 as its chairman declared at the annual meeting, made a big fight 

 to prevent the restrictions from being removed on tires, then 

 tried to have tires defined as "parts thereof" in the tariff, and 

 now will endeavor to have tires included in the next budget as 

 dutiable. He also declared that the British tire trade must be 

 made as strong as the transatlantic competition, that no one 

 concern could meet the coming demand and that all the manu- 

 facturers should work together. That Great Britain must right 

 the balance as regards the consumption of rubber and that the 

 bulk of British-produced rubber should be used in British fac- 

 tories. The Association is an amalgamation of British tire manu- 

 facturers, among them the Dunlop company, which has started 

 an aggressive American campaign and is big enough to resemble 

 a trust. 



When tanks were first used in the war, the British War 

 Office originally intended to equip them with balata belting. Ex- 

 periments by Sir William Trilfon at Lincoln in August, 1915, 

 put an end to that project. 



Rubber has been sold in London as far ahead as 1923 at 

 2s. AVsd. a pound ex warehouse. For 1920 and 1921 the price 

 has been 2s. 6'.id. 



A Swedish syndicate is being formed .\r Stockholm on the 

 lines of the old East India Co. of Gothenburg, with a capital of 

 30,000.000 kroner", whose main object is to buy rubber and 

 other plantations in the Dutch East Indies, to work them by 

 modern methods and ship the products by steamer direct to 

 Sweden. 



= One krona equals $0,268 United States currency. 



