182 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i, 1908. 



RtTBBER 

 EXPERTS. 



mentioned, are an old established firm of rubber cable makers 

 whose works are at Blackley, near Manchester. With regard to 

 this stearine pitch, for a long time it was used exclusively 

 by a single firm under the name of bitite, but now its employ- 

 ment has become very general among insulated wire manu- 

 facturers. 



Looking at the future it seems pretty clear that insulation 

 will be required less than in the recent past. The modern ten- 

 dency is the employment of increasingly high voltages and for 

 these currents bare copper conductors are used. I heard recently 

 of some very important projects being put in hand where 

 pressures of 10,000 to 20,000 volts will be used. The conductors 

 will be bare copper, though for switchboard and various other 

 connections where insulation is necessary rubber insulation will be 

 used to the exclusion of pitch or fiber. 



The rubber expert has long been with us, but in the past he 

 has always been associated with the manufacture of rubber goods. 

 Nowadays, however, the rubber expert 

 who comes before the public ken is 

 either a botanist or a planter, or per- 

 haps he has no particular claims to be considered as either of 

 these. The new expert is to be found in the neighborhood of 

 Mincing lane or in the localities where certain groups of capital- 

 ists have their offices. I am referring to this topic because it is 

 clear that in the future the rubber expert must be particularized. 

 I am not too fond of the term expert myself, but where I may 

 think it applicable in the case of a man who has been in the 

 trade for 20 or 30 years, I certainly object to its use by those 

 whose acquaintance with rubber is only a year or two old. In 

 England at present the younger son goes to a rubber plantation, 

 whereas at an earlier date oranges in Florida or prunes in Cali- 

 fornia were his destiny. But not to generalize too much, I have 

 been induced to make these remarks from hearing one of the 

 newest Mincing lane experts say that a certain man well known 

 in the rubber trade could not be an authority because he, the 

 speaker, had never heard of him. At this rate the master minds 

 who are controlling our large rubber factories are evidently to 

 rank nowhere compared with the young planter or the man who 

 has a rubber growing concession to sell in the city. I suppose 

 there are extremely few people who can claim to be experts in 

 both rubber growing — including in this term botany — and in the 

 manufacturing of rubber goods, and it certainly seems desirable 

 that experts should be referred to as belonging to one or the 



other branch, 



* * * 



R. & J. DICK, LIMITED. 



.■\ coMr.\NY with this name has been formed to acquire and 

 carry on the business of R. & J. Dick, manufacturers of gutta- 

 percha soled boots and shoes, balata belting, gutta-percha horse- 

 shoe pads, etc., at Glasgow, Scotland. The capital is ^650,000 

 [$3,163,225], divided equally into s'A per cent, cumulative pref- 

 erence shares and ordinary shares. The business was started 

 about 60 years ago by two brothers — Robert and James Dick, 

 who died respectively in 1891 and 1902, each leaving a large 

 fortune apart from his share in the business. The business has 

 been owned and conducted of late by a number of partners, 

 live of whom will be interested in the new company. John Ed- 

 ward Audsley, connected with the business for 40 years, will 

 be managing director. The profits for five years past are stated 

 to have averaged ^65,122 is. iid. 



Regarding the Dick balata belting, the prospectus of the 

 new company says : "A factory was specially built for making 

 the belts, and the machinery is of the most complete character, 

 being largely the invention of the original partners, subse- 

 quently developed by their technical staff. The belting, which is 

 of great strength and durabihty, is, in the course of manu- 

 facture, treated with a special solution of balata. Though the 

 patents expired some eight years ago. the belting, in spite of 

 competition, maintains its position both in the home and foreign 



markets, and the sales have continued to expand from year to 

 year, the turnover for the last eight months exceeding all pre- 

 vious records for the same period." 



CABLE FOR THE CARIBBEAN SEA. 



The India Rubber. Gutta Percha, and Telegraph Works Co., 

 Limited, have contracted to build and lay a cable between Puerto 

 Colombia (Savanilla), Colombia, and Kingston, Jamaica, there 

 to connect with the lines of the Direct West India Cable Co., 

 Limited. The new line is building for the Caribbean Anglo-Co- 

 lombian Cable Co., Limited, just formed, with £200,000 [=$973'- 

 300] capital, to acquire certain exclusive cable privileges granted 

 by the republic of Colombia, for the period of 50 years. The 

 board of the new concessionaire company is headed by Baron 

 Georges de Renter, director of Renter's great telegraphic news 

 service. 



BRITISH COMPANY NOTES. 



SuppLE.MENT.AL to the list of British firms mentioned as making 

 balata belting, in the last India Rubber World (page 150), 't may 

 be said that the New Motor and General Rubber Co., Limited 

 (London and Harpenden), announce that they are prepared to 

 suppy this line of goods. 



Engelbert Tyres, Limited, is the name of a company organized 

 for the sale in Great Britain of tires made by the important 

 Belgian house of O. Englebert Fils & Co., of Liege. These 

 tires will be carried in stock in the leading British centers. 



Torkington Tires (Parent Syndicate), Limited, registered in 

 London January 14. 1908, with £3150 capital, to adopt an agree- 

 ment with A. Torkington and carry on the business of making 

 tires and other rubber goods. 



The Clipper Pneumatic Tyre Co., Limited (Birmingham), a 

 selling and not a manufacturing company, report a net profit 

 for the year ending August 31, 1907, of £20,399 [=$116,947.34], and 

 a dividend for the year of 7J4 per cent, absorbed £4878. In view 

 of the expiration of certain arrangements for the sale of foreign; 

 tires and the expected resulting diminution of profits, the com- 

 pany have devoted a large amount of their reserve to the writing 

 oflF of good will and trade mark accounts, with a view to strength- 

 ening the position of the company. 



The accounts of George Angus & Co., Limited, leather and 

 rubber manufacturers at Newcastle-on-Tyne, show net profits for 

 1907 of £26,934 [=$131,074.31]. The dividends declared for the 

 year on the ordinary shares amounted to 10 per cent. The rate 

 has been at least 10 per cent, for ten years past, though for some 

 years the profit has been larger than in 1907, and during four 

 years of the last ten the dividends amounted to 12I2 per cent. 

 The dividend on the preference shares is 5 per cent. 



At the annual dinner of the staff of the Anchor Cable Co., 

 Limited, at Leigh, it was stated that existing contracts would 

 keep the plant working full time at high pressure until the end 

 of this year, at least. The company is now under control of 

 Callender's Cable and Construction Co., Limited. They are 

 mentioned as having booked orders lately from the German navy 

 and secured contracts in Japan. 



The New Gutta Percha Co., Limited, register the discharge 

 in full of debentures dated July 17, 1906, for £13.500 [=$65,697.75]. 

 The company are engaged in exploiting Gentsch's artificial gutta- 

 percha under the British patents. 



GERMANY, 



The dividend of the Mitteldeutsche Gummiwaren-Fabrik Louis 

 Peter, Actiengesellschaft (Frankfort o/M.) for the last business 

 year amounted to 16 per cent. The disbursement was 480,000 

 marks [=$114,240], the capital being 3,000,000 marks. The net 

 profit for the year was 1,070,377 marks [=$254,749.73]. 



The hose and rubber goods industry of B. Polack. at Walters- 

 hausen. has been organized into B. Polack, Actiengesellschaft, 

 with a capital of 1.200,000 marks [=$285,600]. Max Polack is the 

 first director, holding 500,000 marks in shares in the new com- 

 pany. 



