144 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1908. 



for Dr. Angus Smith, a noted chemist and chief inspector under 

 the AlkaH acts. They are 6 or 7 inches in diameter and made 

 of pure spread vulcanized sheet with a deep flange so as to make 

 the jar air tight when in use. Of late years, as made by different 

 firms to the order of individual chemists, they have shown con- 

 siderable variation in neatness of appearance, principally in the 

 jointing. In the case of some which I examined recently the 

 rubber was quite decayed, to the annoyance of the chemist, but 

 as he had carried out his own desulphurizing in caustic soda I 

 was in no hurry to talk about bad work or the use of inferior 

 rubber by the manufacturer. 



Although so far rubber tires have not had any extended use 

 ■on vehicles under the control of the War Office, the possibilities 

 attaching to them are receiving close attention. The branch of 

 RUBBER TIRES '''^ Service which is concerned with 



IN THE the matter is that of mechanical trans- 



BRITISH ARMY. port, Under a special committee at the 



War Office. It is a special branch of the army service corps and 

 at Aldershot there are experimental and repairing shops under 

 the charge of engineers who have the honorary rank of officers 

 in the army service corps. It is the business of these officers to 

 investigate the latest types of mechanical transport, including 

 motor wagons and traction engines. Considerable progress has 

 been made in some directions in substituting mechanical for 

 horse transport, a case in point being the hauling of siege artillery. 

 At present the use of rubber tires is limited practically to am- 

 bulances and light motor wagons carrying about 30 hundred- 

 weight, though it may be added that the officers in charge of 

 the department have motor cars provided with their use. The 

 pneumatic tires used on these are under close supervision and 

 every puncture has to be carefully recorded. I hardly feel 

 myself at liberty to use here the details of the information in my 

 possession, especially as there is a formidable document entitled 

 the "Official Secrets Act" to be met with at various points in 

 Aldershot, but there can be no harm in saying that I have heard 

 the Dunlop, Sirdar, and Palmer Cord tires highly spoken of. 

 The Palmer tire was referred to in special terms of praise by an 

 officer who had them on a private car with which he made some 

 long non-stop runs when attending the Scottish Reliability trials. 

 Repairs to tires are carried out at the mechanical transport 

 shops, a Harvey Frost apparatus being installed. 



RUBBER INTERESTS IN ENGLAND. 



DUNLOP TIRE PROFITS. 



THE net trading profit of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., 

 Limited, for the year ended September 30, 1907, before 

 deducting directors' fees, debenture interest, etc., amounted to 

 £29,950, but the profit realized from investments was £191,777, 

 making a total, after the deductions noted, of £200.478 5.?. yd. 

 [= $975,625.57], The income from investments includes divi- 

 dends from the Dunlop Rubber Co., Limited [see The India 

 Rubber World, January i, 1908— page no]. The dividends for 

 the year of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. amount to 5 per 

 cent, on the preferred shares, 8 per cent, on the ordinary shares, 

 and 7J-2 per cent, on the deferred shares, totalling £137,246 

 ys. gd. [= $667,909.58]. The company write off £60,000 from 

 their good will account and carry forward £19.271. against 

 £16,039 last year. While the Dunlop profits have been large, it 

 will be recognized from the above that the dividends distributed 

 to the shareholders of the Pneumatic Tyre company have al- 

 ready been counted once, in part, in the report of the Rubber 

 company. 



PROFITS OF THE SILVERTOWN COMPANY. 



The accounts of the India Rubber, Gutta Pcrcha, and Tele- 

 graph Works Co., Limited, for the year ended September 30, 

 1907, showed net profits of £56,809 i+s. [= $276,465.97]. The 

 general business of the company showed an increase over that 

 of the vear before, and their works in England and France and 



their cable steamers were all well employed. A good business 

 had been done in tires. The dividends declared for the year 

 amounted to 10 per cent., the same as for last year. 



PALMER TYRE, LIMITED. 



The accounts for the year ended September 30. 1907, showed 

 a profit of £7684 [■= $37,394.19], and the dividend amounted to 

 5 per cent. The company is owned by the India Rubber, Gutta 

 Percha, and Telegraph Works Co., Limited, who, it is under- 

 stood, will put more capital into the business. The company's 

 product is the well known Palmer Cord tire. 



POOR RESULTS OF PEGAMOID. 



New Pegamoid, Linuted, for their fifth year, ending Septem- 

 ber 30, 1907, report such poor results that no dividend was de- 

 clared. The net return for the year was £2ii. The dividend 

 was 8 per cent, for the first two years. The company succeeded 

 the English corporation known as Pegamoid. Limited, floated in 

 1896 with £300.000 [= $1,459,950] capital. 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



The annual meeting of the Liverpool Electric Cable Co., 

 Limited, was held on December 20. The dividend declared for 

 the year was 7^-2 per cent., the same as last year. This company 

 is an outgrowth from the Liverpool Rubber Co., Limited, with 

 which it is affiliated. 



The Dunlop Rubber Co.. Limited (Birmingham), have taken 

 on the manufacture of golf balls, producing an article with 

 which some notable records have been broken. 



The directors of the Amazon Steam Navigation Co., Limited, 

 declared an interim dividend of 2 per cent, on account of the 

 last business year, payable on and after January 2. The full 

 dividend for the year for some time past has been 4 per cent. 



Rubber Novelties Co., Limited, to manufacture rubber goods ; 

 registered in London, October 14, 1907; capital. £700. Directors: 

 T. Mason (managing director), V. R. Milner, and W. Davies. 

 Registered office : 75, Ravald street, Salford, Manchester. 



Boro Rubber Co., Limited, registered in London, December 6, 

 1907, with £5000 [= $24,332.50] capital, to acquire the business 

 carried on by A. Mallaby, at Bradford, as the Borough Rubber 

 Co. 



The new cable between New York and Havana, laid by the 

 Commercial Cable Co. of Cuba, provides the most direct and 

 speedy route between Great Britain and Cuba, there being only 

 two intermediate points of transmission — Waterville, Ireland, 

 and New York, 



Joseph Fynney & Co. (india-rubber merchants and importers, 

 55 Brown's building, Liverpool) have issued their Diary for 

 igo8, including a number of useful tables for ready reference, 

 such as net cost of rubber after shrinkage in washing; price 

 equivalents in cents and shillings per pound, francs per kilo, 

 etc. ; vulcanizing pressure and temperature table ; and rubber 

 statistics. It is, as usual, bound neatly in leather and is of con- 

 venient size. 



Malacca Rubber Plantations, Limited, in the Straits Settle- 

 ments — mentioned several times in The India Rubber World on 

 account of some Americans having been interested in its flotation 

 — report that tapping proceeded during seven months, up to the 

 end of October, 1906, when it was decided to wait until a larger 

 number of trees had reached maturity. During that time some 

 30,000 Hevea trees yielded about 14.500 pounds of rubber and 5,000 

 Ficus trees 1.550 pounds. 



The Liberian Rubber Corporation, Limited, report that their 

 trading for 1906 (their first year) was conducted at a net loss, 

 in view of the cost of entering new fields, but they feel confident 

 of better results for 1907. The company gathered during the 

 year 116,025 pounds of rubber, besides handling 10,380 pounds 

 for merchants— a total of 126,405 pounds. 



