April 1, 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



375 



The India Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Oar Regular Correspondent. 



NEXT to the war, with its various fortunes, the main topic 

 of late has been the weather. The heavy rainfall of the 

 earlier part of February was followed in the last week of 

 the month and the first week of March by a series of snow- 

 storms of unusual severity. There has been a great run on 

 goloshes and snow boots, and the dealers must have ended the 

 season well. I myself have invested for the first time in a pair 

 of Boston storm slippers, and am very well satisfied with my 

 purchase. These are retailed by the boot shops at S.y. per pair, 

 against Zs. 9d. a pair for home-made goloshes, and I am told that 

 they are becoming very popular. Owing to scarcity of labor, 

 it has not been possible to clear the streets of snow with any- 

 thing like the accustomed celerity, and this has made the wearing 

 of goloshes more of a necessity; and again there is the fact 

 that, while the price of leather boots has advanced, their wet- 

 resisting properties have not improved, but, if anything, have 

 shown a retrogression. All the circumstances, therefore, have 

 been in favor of better rubber footwear trade. 



ALL MANUFACTURING LINES ACTIVE. 

 With regard to business there is little of novelty to report. 

 One cannot find a manufacturer who confesses to being slack, 

 not even in the rubber heel trade, which is not supported by 

 government orders as are the great bulk of the rubber manu- 

 facturers. A considerable amount of proofing for various classes 

 of goods is still being done on government contracts, and the 

 factories have very little oportunity to work for the home and 

 exjiort trade, although plenty of business is to be had owing 

 to the depletion of warehouse stocks held by dealers and shippers. 

 The labor question is becoming increasingly acute, owing to 

 the demand for men by the military authorities, and the imminent 

 severe revision of those engaged in "starred" trades will in- 

 evitably tend to further diflSculties. Several important rubber 

 works are now controlled by the ministry of munitions, and as 

 there seems to be some misunderstanding as to the meaning of 

 this, I may say that the control extends only to the particular 

 article or articles which the firm is turning out for this ministry. 

 Regarding the rest of the firm's business, whether it is con- 

 cerned with other government departments or with private trade, 

 the management remains, as before, entirely in the hands of the 

 firm's officials, with no more supervision than is customary 

 in the care of government contracts, and which is referred to in 

 the specifications. 



FOREIGN BUSINESSES CLOSED DOWN. 

 The fact that orders have been issued for the closing down 

 of various British houses of enemy origin will remove a good 

 deal of competition from the path of neutral and allied firms 

 now trading in Great Britain. Four prominent firms to be 

 wound up are the Calmon Asbestos & Rubber Works, Limited ; 

 the Peter Union Tire Co., Limited; the Harburg- Vienna Rubber 

 Co., Limited, and the Rhenish Rubber & Celluloid Co., Limited. 

 As I am confining my pen to the bare retailing of news I do 

 not propose to make any comments on the personalities, whether 

 of British or Teutonic origin, who have been so long known to 

 many of us in their conduct of these businesses. 

 TRADE AFTER THE WAR. 

 .A good many meetings have been held in the country to dis- 

 cuss the important question of trade after the war. and, although 

 party politics are supposed to be defunct for the time being, 

 or at any rate moribund, the main controversy underlying all 

 the discussion is the old political one of free trade versus pro- 

 tection, a matter in which neutrals, allies and enemies are all 



concerned. An important matter has been the defeat of the 

 free trade directors of the Manchester chamber of commerce 

 on a no change policy in the cotton trade. The majority of the 

 members who brought about this defeat, which caused the resig- 

 nation of most of the directors, belong to a great variety of 

 trades, and cotton is poorly represented in the 29 nominations for 

 the new board of 22 directors. Among these nominations is 

 P. A. Birley, of Charles Macintosh & Co., and a director of 

 the Xorth Borneo Rubber Co., and Marshall Stevens, a director 

 of the Xylos Rubber Co., Limited, though better known in Amer- 

 ica as the chairman and managing director of the Trafford Park 

 estates. It may be taken that the great majority of the new 

 board will be strong advocates of protective duties in manufac- 

 tured goods, and development of interest may now be expected. 



NORTH BRITISH RUBBER CO., LIMITED. 

 The new chemical research laboratory being erected by this 

 concern is a model one. The room is very lofty, and is lighted 

 by windows on three sides. The benches are designed to ac- 

 commodate four research workers each. Artificial illumination 

 on the "eye-rest" indirect system has been specially arranged 

 to avoid shadows and glare. A few direct lighting units, installed 

 for special purposes, are shaded to avoid any naked light sources 

 in the line of vision. An electric blower has been installed for 

 ventilation purposes. Steam, gas and electric power are sup- 

 plied to the extraction bench, and high pressure water from 

 the mains is supplemented as a precaution by a low pressure 

 supply from a storage tank in the roof. Special attention is 

 being devoted m the balance room to obviating the effect of 

 vibration from the factory. 



RUBBER BELTING. 

 At a meeting of the Manchester Association of Engineers held 

 on March 4 a paper on "Rubber Belting" was read by Mr. James 

 Tinto, of the Irwell & Eastern Rubber Co. The history of the 

 rubber belt in England and America was given, and special 

 mention was made of the large conveyor belts, which, originating 

 in America, are being made by his firm and others on a scale 

 quite equal to the mammoth products of America. 



THE INDIA RUBBER MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION. 

 J. T. Goudie. of the Leyland & Birmingham Rubber Co., 

 Limited, occupied the chair at the annual meeting held in Man- 

 chester on February 22. There was a good attendance, and the 

 various matters dealt with in the chairman's speech showed that 

 the work of the past year had been largely concerned with 

 matters which had arisen through the war, and were of great 

 importance to the trade generally. The matter of import duties 

 on foreign-made goods has been under discussion during the 

 year, but beyond saying that complete harmony does not reign 

 in the committee on this point I shall not enlarge on the topic. 

 It is generally acknowledged that Mr. Goudie has made an ex- 

 cellent chairman, bringing wide business knowledge and con- 

 siderable energy to his duties, which have been by no means 

 light, and it is not surprising to find that he has been reelected 

 chairman for the current year. Peter Bate, manager of the 

 Castle Rubber Co., Warrington, was reelected vice-chairman, the 

 following being elected to the committee: P. A. Birley, (Charles 

 Macintosh & Co.) ; I. H. C. Brooking (St. Helens Cable & Rub- 

 ber Co.) ; R. Eccles (F. Reddaway & Co.) ; Viscount Grimston 

 (Grimston Tires) ; W. M. Henderson (.\ncoats Vale Rubber 

 Co.) ; F. Webster (Avon India Rubber Co.) ; David Moseley 



