June i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



287 



The Coming Rubber Exhibition. 



THE International Rubber and Allied Trades Exhibition to 

 be held in London in September next is designed to direct 

 public attention to the enormous advances made during 

 recent years in the rubber industry and also in the methods of 

 jiroducing and making available the raw rubber used by manu- 

 facturers, and to bring these two important interests into closer 

 touch. The brilliant success of the Ceylon Rubber Exhibition 

 in 1906, though that was practically a local enterprise and con- 

 fined to the rubber planting interest in a small part of the worlJ, 

 led to repeated suggestions that another rubber exhibition 'le 

 held on broader lines and in a location 

 more readily accessible to the bulk of 

 those interested in rubber. These sug- 

 gestions have crystallized in the forming 

 of a committee composed of mauiifactur- 

 ers, merchants, planters, botanist ?, chem- 

 ists, and others with a view to holding 

 the proposed exhibition in London. 1 he 

 original small committee has grown until 

 it is not only representative of all the 

 various interests above alluded to, but is 

 also truly international. The "advisory 

 committee" embraces names of persons 

 of standing in every country in Europe, 

 in the various colonial possessions of Eng- 

 land and the continental countries in 

 which rubber is produced, in Brazil md 

 other South American countries, Mexico, 

 Hawaii, and the Philippines. At this time 

 plans are making for the proper repre- 

 sentation of American rubber interests 

 on the committee. 



It is proposed that the department de- 

 voted to plantation rubber shall illustrate 

 methods of tapping, coagulating, and dry- 

 ing rubber, with exhibits of utensils and 

 machinery for such purposes, and that 



there shall be very full exhibits of rubber from different species, 

 prepared by various methods. It is intended also that there shall 

 be also exhibits of wild or native rubbers from Brazil, .Africa, 

 and other producing countries. Gutta-percha, balata, and the 

 kindred gums are to have attention no less than rubber. 



The manufacturers' section is to embrace goods made wholly 

 or partly of india-rubber, gutta-percha, and so on, together with 

 the raw materials other than rubber used in this industry — com- 

 pounding ingredients, textile 

 fabrics, and the like. In this 

 department also spaces have 

 been allotted for machinery and 

 utensils used in the rubber in- 

 dustry. A final department 

 will relate to rubber literature, 

 including maps of rubber re- 

 gions, and photographs illus- 

 trative of the various rubber 

 interests. 



The organizers are making 

 arrangements for the delivery 

 of illustrated lectures and ad- 

 dresses on rubber and its uses 

 and cognate subjects, and no 

 pains is being spared to pro- 

 vide a program which by its 

 development shall tend to bring 

 nearer together the producers Where the Rubber Exhibition Will be Held. 



Sir Henry Arthur Blake, k. c. m. g. 



[President of the International Rubber Exhibition- 1 



of rubber as raw material and the consumers of rubber in the 

 i::£;nufacture. It is believed that it will be helpful to large users 

 ol rubber to become as fully acquainted as possible with all of 

 the grades of the raw material available and to become familiar 

 with methods employed in its production, and that on the other 

 hand it will be of advantage to rubber growers and exploiters 

 to learn what are the wants of factory managers in order to be 

 able to the fullest extent to supply these. 



The exhibition is to be held in Olympia, the largest building 

 in London for exhibition purposes, and which has been used 

 for several automobile shows. Originally 

 the use of a smaller building was pro- 

 posed, but the requests for. space were on 

 such a scale that its use became imprac- 

 ticable and Olympia has been secured. 

 It is planned to open the exhibition on 

 .Monday, September 14, and to keep it open 

 until Saturday evening, September 26. 



In Ceylon the planters' association and 

 chamber of commerce of Colombo have 

 appointed a joint committee to organize 

 an exnibit from that colony, with the aid 

 of a grant from the colonial government. 

 Space has been obtained at Olympia, and 

 the work of organizing the exhibit is pro- 

 ceeding actively. E.\hibits will be con- 

 tributed by the different districts collec- 

 tively, though individual exhibits will be 

 allowed. 



The government of the Federated Malay 

 States and the Planters' Association of 

 Malaya also are taking an active interest, 

 and are preparing an exhibit with which 

 will be combined that from the Straits 

 Settlements. 



The Dutch government have appointed 

 a commission to represent Holland and 

 her colonies extensively at the rubber exhibition, though the ex- 

 tensive plantations of rubber which have been formed in Java 

 and Sumatra have not yet reached a productive age. 



The Rubber Planters' Association of Mexico at its last annual 

 meeting, as already reported in these columns, appointed a com- 

 mittee to arrange for a collective exhibit from that republic, and 

 the committee has since been active in carrying out the work. 

 It is announced that Brazil will be represented by many 



separate exhibits, and probably 

 by a general exhibit supported 

 by the government. The Bri- 

 tish West Indies will be offi- 

 cially represented, as well as 

 several parts of British Africa 

 ana alio Portuguese East 

 .Africa. An official exhibit is 

 booked from Hawaii. 



The presidency of the exhi- 

 bition has been accepted by Sir 

 Hen.-y .Arthur Blake, K. c. M. G., 

 late governor of Ceylon and 

 president of the successful Cey- 

 lon rubber exhibition held in 

 September, 1906, during his 

 term of office in that colony. 

 Several persons prominent in 

 the rubber world have been 

 named as vice presidents. 



