398 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Septemrek I, igo8. 



sued at the end of July, the subscription being underwritten at 

 a commission of 15 per cent, and an over-riding commission of 

 a shining per sliare. With the prospects of the substantial divi- 

 dends foreshadowed in the prospectus one would hardly have 

 thought it necessary for Messrs. J. H. Tredale & Co., the well- 

 known energetic stock brokers of Liverpool, to enclose a cir- 

 cular letter in the prospectus advising all and sundry to apply 

 at once for shares. Such a letter is a somewhat new departure 

 in rubber prospectuses, though the additional figures it contains 

 over and above what are given in the prospectus are interesting. 

 For some time at any rate it is clear that the major income will 

 be derived from balata rather than from rubber, either forest or 

 plantation, and in the collection of ijalata the corporation is 

 presumably at no disadvantage with those gatherers outside its 

 concession, as collection under license is the rule in Guiana. It 

 is stated that the corporation can deliver their sheet balata in 

 London at an inclusive cost of a shilling and that the price of 

 2s. sd. per pound is being realized. According to statements 

 from Ciudad Bolivar the collection in Venezuela is unprofitable 

 if the London selling price falls appreciably below 2 shillings ; 

 but it would seem that the Guiana business could face a much 

 lower price with equanimity. 



As an addendum to what I said si.x months ago about motor 



transport investigation at .Mdershot it is interesting to note that 



the War office, through the mechanical 



MOTOR TRACTORS transport committee, have instituted a 



FOR WAR SERVICE. ^ . . v i ^ .. ^ Tl 



competition for light tractors. 1 he 

 trial is to take place in the Long Valley at Aldershot and the 

 subject is looked upon in engineering circles as one of consider- 

 able importance. Whether it will be of interest to the motor 

 tire manufacturers remains to be seen; as far as motor trans- 

 port in the army has gone at present rubber tires have been lim- 

 ited to the lighter vehicles, such as ambulance wagons, but they 

 are certainly applicable to the sort of tractor now to be investi- 

 gated. 



I H.\VE received from this well-known lirm of electrical cable 

 manufacturers their annual calendar. This announcement may 



seem somewhat belated, but I mav ex- 

 w T. GLOVER & CO., ,,,|,, ^,,,,f jj^^ ("rm have adopted the 



LIMITED. ' , r , ■ , ■ 1 1 j: 



procedure of dating their calendar from 

 July I t" June 30, with a detachable leaflet for each day. Al- 

 though the firm make all sorts of rubber insulated cables they 

 by no means limit t-hemselves to this branch. In addition to 

 the fibrous dialrine insulation, they also use bitumen as an in- 

 sulator on the lines initiated by Callendcrs many years ago, but 

 with their own modifications. One of the most modern and 

 withal important applications of electricity is in connection with 

 mining. As shaft and underground cables are frequently liable 

 to get wet it is important that the insulation used should be ab- 

 solutely waterproof, and for mining work I understand that 

 Glovers recommend their bitumen insulation in preference to the 

 fibrous insulation. In their patent solid three case bitumen cable 

 the conductors are each separately insulated with bitumen com- 

 pound, and after being laid together around a shaped central case 

 of bitumen, the whole is sheathed over with a solid tube of bitu- 

 men which is forced on so as to completely fill up the inter- 

 stices between the three cases. The cable is then lapped and 

 armored as required. This class of cable seems to have given 

 every satisfaction for pressures up to 3.000 volts. In their special 

 t}-pe of trailing cable the conductors are insidated with rubber, 

 and after being laid up together are sheathed with bitumen 

 .so as to form a solid mass into which water cannot pcnotrate. 



LONDON RUBBER EXHIBITION. 



The freight rate on rubber from Singapore to London is 

 60 shillings [=$14.60] per ton of 50 cubic feet. 



THE cosmopolitan character of the congress in connection with 

 the International Rubber Exhibition to be held in London 

 this month — from the I4tb to the 26th, inclusive — is suggested by 

 a glance at the different names applied to the undertaking by our 

 exchanges, in various languages, in reporting on work in prog- 

 ress here or there in preparation for Olympia. Some of the 

 names are : 



Exposicion International Hulera. 



Exposigao de Borracha. • 



Exposition Internationale du Caoutchouc. 



Internationale .\ustellung fur Kautschuk. 



Internationale Rubber-tentoonstelling. 



The space reserved for Ceylon at the International Rubber 

 Exhibition has been increased to 80 X 30 feet, or double the orig- 

 inal allotment. The display will be under the joint auspices of 

 the Ceylon Planters' Association and the Ceylon Chamber of 

 Commerce. Mr. M. Kelway Bamber, government chemical anal- 

 yst, will attend as official representative of Ceylon. 



The Dutch commission for the rubber exposition embraces the 

 following representatives of the rubber industry in the Nether- 

 lands : B. Bakker, director of the Nederlandsche Caoutchouc- 

 en Guttapercha-Fabriek "St. Joris,"' at Ridderkerk ; J. Merens, 

 of Gebroeders Merens, rubber manufacturers at Haarlem ; and 

 J. Pompe, director of the Amsterdamsche Caoutchouc-Fabriek. 



The Associagao Commercial do Amazonas. at Manaos, after an 

 existence dating from 1875, on May 28 last adopted a new consti- 

 tution, and apparently has become more active in promoting com- 

 merce in its region, which embraces the most important source 

 of native rubber in the world. The State government at Manaos 

 has taken steps to have the rubber resources recognized at Olym- 

 pia this month, and the commercial association will be repre- 

 sented there by Senhor Nicolaus H. Witt, who for so many years 

 has been prcminent in the Manaos rubber trade. 



ATLANTIC CABLE JUBILEE. 



I.MPORTEl) pink shaded rubbers, for veneering, in dental work, 

 are offered to the trade as high as $6 per pound. 



OX .\ugust 5 occurred the fiftieth anniversary of the comple- 

 tion of the laying of the first Atlantic cable — from Vai- 

 entia, Ireland, to Bay Bulls, Newfoundland. It was not the 

 first submarine cable — there is yet working a cable laid seven 

 years earlier between Dover and Calais — but the fact that it 

 spanned an ocean, together with the large investment of capital 

 involved, impressed the minds of millions who had not before 

 realized the existence of this phase of- telegraphy. It matters not 

 that the cable of 1858 soon broke down, and that seven years 

 elapsed before the Atlantic was spanned electrically with suc- 

 cess ; enough was accomplished by that first effort to convince 

 scientists and capital of the feasibility of the idea, and an incen- 

 tive was given to building submarine cables that has not yet 

 spent its force. There are now about 247,888 miles of such 

 cables in operation, including sixteen lines across the Atlantic 

 alone. 



The promoters of the 1858 cable are entitled to be remembered 

 for their enterprise and public spirit no less because the line so 

 speedily ceased to be of service. September i — just fifty years 

 ago to-day — was observed as a holiday in New York in honor of 

 the cable and its builders, and the electrical interests in New 

 York are now planning to commemorate suitably the cable jubi- 

 lee during the present month. 



The cable interest has stimulated, more than all else combined, 

 the demand for gutta-percha, the use of which, in fact, has been 

 practically monopolized for cable building. It is. of course, 

 impossible to estimate the total consumption to date of gutta- 

 percha for insulating cables, but it must have averaged more than 

 1.000 tons a year since 1858, and this is a very large figure, con- 

 sidering the limited area in which gutta-percha exists, and the 

 difficulties encountered in gaining it. 



