July i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



329 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Rcguliir Correspondent. 



THE important lawsuit of Huttenbach v. The North 

 Western Rubber Co., Limited, is not yet finally dis- 

 posed of, as the verdict given for the defendants by Mr. 

 Justice Walton, in London, has been appealed against. 

 While, therefore, not yet at liberty to comment on the main 

 issues involved, I may remark that 

 PONTIANAK. this case by no means stands alone as 



regards disagreement between buyer 

 and seller of this comparatively new commodity. Though the 

 North Western company have the reputation of being 

 large buyers of pontianak in Europe, considerable sales are 

 being regularly afifectcd in other quarters, arbitration being 

 resorted to in accordance with Liverpool custom when dif- 

 ferences arise. Although I am by no means satisfied that 

 chemical analysis could be usefully adopted in transactions 

 with the ordinary brands of raw rubber, yet I think that 

 in the case of Pontianak — or jelutong, or palenibaug. as it is 

 now variously termed in Liverpool — analysis would be de- 

 cidedly useful in settling the question of quality. At present 

 the broker or arbitrator merely rubs up a bit of the stuflf 

 in his hands in order to judge of the quality. Its value is 

 appraised according to its degree of plasticity or adhesive- 

 ness. If it crumbles to powder in the hand treatment, it is 

 at once judged to be low quality. No doubt this test, which 

 hr.s convenience and speed for its recommendations, gives 

 an approximate idea of the amount of rubber present, but 

 it seems to leave rather too much to the personal equation 

 of the operator. A broker to whom the suggestion of chemi- 

 cal analysis was made, replied that he would not give a 

 fig for it. Quite possibly in the case of many transactions 

 it would not be worth the trouble and expense, but there 

 is no doubt that analysis would give accurately what the 

 broker's test gives only approximately. The impurities, ex- 

 cept water, which is certainly very variable, and as a rule 

 only trifling in amount, and the proportion of rubber to 

 resin, can be determined without difficulty as a useful index 

 of quality. It is a common idea in some quarters that there 

 is no rubber present, but this supposition finds no support, 

 as far as the samples which have passed through my hands 

 are concerned, at any rate. 



In the report of the German Rubber Manufacturers' Cen- 

 tral Verein. I note that Dr. Ditmar advocates the establish- 



„„„,„„„„ „„„„„, ment of a technical school for the 



TECHNICAL SCHOOL . . 



FOR THE rubber trade. He is ready, it appears. 



RUBBER TRADE. ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ j^^j^^ ^j j,^^ director- 



ship thereof, presumably on terms, though this considera- 

 tion is not referred to. A technical school devoted wholly 

 to the interests of tJie rubber trade seems rather a large 

 order, and I am not at all sure that such an institution is 

 necessary or desirable. At any rate, before proceeding to 

 this extremity, one would have thought that classes or in- 

 struction of some sort would be given at existing technical 

 schools. I don't know what has been done in America, but 

 in England tlie rubber manufacture is not yet included in 

 the long curriculums now established at the leading tech- 

 nical schools. It has certainly been suggested by some 

 British enthusiast that we should have a special establish- 

 ment for training rubber chemists, but I should like to know 

 what is to become of the product, seeing that only two or 

 three appointments are available a year, and some of these 

 at salaries which are anything but tempting. Germany, I un- 

 derstand, is now viewing with some degree of alarm the very 

 large increase in the number of university students in recent 



years, and the overcrowding of all the professions. If the 

 education enthusiasts in this country had their way, we 

 should soon be on the decline, as despite the introduction of 

 labor saving machinery, nearly 80 per cent, of the produc- 

 tiveness of the country comes from manual labor. In nine 

 cases out of ten the object of seeking higher education is in 

 order to command higher payment. This end is attainable 

 when there are only a few in it. but when large numbers 

 are educated up to professional standards the natural thing is that 

 employees take advantage of the competition and oflfer very disap- 

 pointing rates of pay. This is what is now going on all over 

 England. But not to dwell too much on the general, it 

 would be interesting to know who the rubber technical 

 school is to educate, and who is to benefit most from it. 

 It is a common saying that educated workmen are not 

 wanted as long as they can do their work all right, and as 

 the essence of success in the rubber business depends upon 

 details, including changing markets, which could not re- 

 ceive proper attention at a school, it is pretty clear that 

 the graduate of the school would have to begin over again 

 at the factory when he got his appointment. Hence it 

 would seem that, in view of the limited amount of really 

 useful information which is to be obtained outside the fac- 

 tory, the establishment of a branch in connection with rub- 

 ber at an existing technical school is all that the situation 

 warrants, and although I may perhaps be too pessimistic, I 

 do not foresee a particularly bright future for those who at- 

 tend this special branch if their number is not kept within 

 strict limits. 



I MUST confess to not being familiar with the boot manu- 

 facture, though I am acquainted at second hand w^ith the 

 fact that large quantities of rubber 

 SOLUTION. solution — or cement, as I believe it is 



termed — is made in American facto- 

 ries, especially for use in the boot trade. Evidently a some- 

 what similar business is carried on in England, as I hear 

 that quantities of special rubber solution are being supplied 

 to British boot manufacturers by a German firm. This is 

 said to be a special quality of solution, though I should not 

 imagine that there can be anything about it which debars 

 home rubber works from supplying it on equally advanta- 

 geous terms. The other day I had an inquiry from Spain 

 for a process of making boots from cardboard. It was 

 pointed out that the particular town was characterized by 

 sunshine and bombs, and that the strong English leather 

 boot was not really an essential. I was unable to give the 

 information required, but should think that rubber cement 

 would be useful in a cardboard boot. 



Although owing to the fall in price of raw rubber at the 

 end of last year, a reduction in the price of tires w-as quite 

 natural, other influences besides a 

 wish to benefit the public have 

 prompted the actions of the principal 

 tire manufacturers in the reductions which have taken place. 

 To put it bluntly, there has been an internecine war on the 

 part of certain firms to recover business lost to successful 

 competitors. That where one firm has announced a 10 per 

 cent, reduction, another has responded with a still further 

 reduction, and so the thing has gone on until it is now gen- 

 erally recognized that the policy is a somewhat suicidal one. 

 If the price of rubber had been the sole factor in causin.g' 

 these reductions, one would expect an announcement of 

 higher prices, now that markets are up again, but this is not 



MOTOR TIRE 

 NOTES. 



