376 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1916. 



(David Moseley & Sons), and J. Tinto (Irwell & Eastern Rubber 

 Co). Mr. Eccles continues to act as treasurer, and Reginald 

 Moseley and James Henderson are the auditors unprofessional. 

 No new firms are represented on the committee, which indicates 

 that the abstention of several important rul)hir works in London 

 and Scotland still continues. 



BOOTS FOR THE liOVS IX THE TRENCHES. 

 Malcolm C. Gumming, the well known planter and chairman 

 of the Planters' Association of Malaya, who some time ago 

 started a scheme to purchase knee rubber boots for the British 

 troops in the trenches, at a recent meeting of the Rubber 

 Growers' .Xssociation, of the council of which he is a member, 

 secured the support of that organization, which voted ilSO 

 [$730] towards his fund, while individual members present at 

 the meeting subscribed a further £800 [$3,892], and the sum 

 has been considerably increased since then. Mr. Gumming has 

 also circularized rubber companies for help in cash and in rubber 

 scrap. If the latter is donated a manufacturer has agreed to 

 purchase it all at market prices, and furnish boots to its value 

 at about Ws. [$2.40] a pair. The retail price of this class of 

 boots here is now 22s. 6d. [$S.40] a pair. In case funds con- 

 tinue to be received Mr. Gumming will make trips to the con- 

 tinent to see that the boots reach the units for which they are 

 intended. 



RUBBER GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 

 Apropos of the Rubber Growers' Association, the general 

 meeting, which was held February 18, was a most interesting 

 one. E. L. Hamilton, chairman of the association, presided, and 

 in an extended address gave a complete review of the work of 

 the association and its various committees during the year, cov- 

 ering among other points the reorganization, in which he spoke 

 of the great value of the research work, commending the for- 

 mation of local committees in Geylon, Malaya and Southern 

 India. He criticized the excess profits duty which has been levied 

 by the government and which in the opinion of various mem- 

 bers worked a hardship upon those companies in the interme- 

 diate stage of development. He told of the opening of a new 

 fund for rendering assistance to those who have gone from 

 British Malaya to take part in the war. Up to the time of the 

 meeting, £12,000 had been donated or promised, and nearly 

 1,000 men have left Malaya to join His Majesty's forces, of 

 whom over 600 are planters, while Geylon has provided at least 

 an equal number of men. 



He highly praised the work of Malcolm Gumming, mentioned 

 above, and gave some very interesting statistics of plantation 

 rubber. He told of the demands for rubber created by the war, 

 and called attention to the endeavors to induce the war office 

 to experiment with rubber for tires on artillery and supply 

 wagons, and as armor for vessels. 



The chairman called attention to the devices resorted to by 

 Germany to obtain rubber, and gave some interesting statistics 

 of the plantation industry which are quoted here : 



It is estimated that about 70 millions sterling of British capital 

 is invested in the plantation industry, this figure representing the 

 issued share and debenture capital, with the premium on shares 

 and reserves put back into the estates. 



The total area under rubber is approximately l'/- million acres, 

 Malaya leading with 670,000 acres; Geylon 224,000 acres; the 

 Netherland Indies 517,000 acres ; Southern India and other coun- 

 tries 90 to 100,000 acres. Approximately 80 per cent of the total 

 is British. 



The world's production of rubber for 1915 is estimated at 

 146,000 tons, of which 98,000 tons are plantation; and for this 

 year the estimated production of plantation rubber is between 

 130,000 and 135,000 tons, thus showing the remarkable develop- 

 ment of the industry. For 1914 the production was but 71,380 

 tons and for 1910, 8,200; while in 1905 there were only 145 tons 

 produced on plantations. 



According to the Board of Trade figures. Great Britain retained 

 15,000 tons for home use against 18,500 for 1914. Russia's demand 



was 16,000 tons for 1915 against 11,000 tons in the previous year, 

 while France increased her consumption over 1914 by 2,000 tons. 

 All these figures are approximate. 



Shipments from Malava to America increased from 5,700 tons 

 in 1914 to 23,000 tons in 1915. With regard to Geylon, there were 

 4.096 tons shiijped direct to .America as against 8,209 tons in 1915. 



.\fter speaking of the great prosperity of the rubber industry 

 in .America and estimating that the United States would need 

 75,000 tons for the manufacture of automobile tires alone, he 

 concluded as follows : 



.\s to the future of the rubber industry, I am afraid I must be 

 excused from prophesying. This industry lakes a high place in 

 the world's commerce, and we must aim at making the planta- 

 tion industry take the premier position. Cooperation is necessary 

 to achieve success, and so long as we keep together and work 

 with the ultimate object of benefiting the industry, that success 

 is assured. We have common interests at stake, and our Asso- 

 ciation has been of infinite service in bringing us together to 

 discuss many matters of policy and principle. 



The industry is still, comparatively speaking, a young one, and 

 therefore there is much for us to do. There is one thing to be 

 said, I do not think we could have kept pace with the rapid strides 

 made during the past years unless we had had the Rubber 

 Growers' Association to represent the plantation industry. 



The election resulted as follows : Gharles Emerson, chairman ; 

 Sir Edward Rosling, vice-chairman ; ordinary members of coun- 

 cil, W. Arthur Addinsell, James F. Anderson, Sir John .Ander- 

 son, F. W. Barker, Noel Bingley, Frank Gopeman, E. L. 

 Hamilton, T. G. Hayes, Gaptain W. R. Hoare, Arthur Lampard, 

 John McEwan, Lieutenant R. K. Mayor, W. P. Metcalfe, H. K. 

 Rutherford, G. A. Talbot, Noel Trotter; P. R. Rutherford, 

 Auditor. 



TRADE-MARK DECISION. 

 An interesting question regarding the use as trade-marks of 

 names spelt backwards is brought up in the case of the "Gnidroc" 

 trade-mark. J. G. Gording, Limited, and George Cording, Lim- 

 ited, are two firms, each making and selling waterproofs. J. G. 

 Gording, as the older firm, objected to the registration by the 

 George Gording firm of the word "Gnidroc" (Gording spelt 

 backwards) as a trade-mark for rubber goods. Justice Neville 

 in the lower court held, with the registrar, that the mark was 

 an invented word, and therefore capable of registration. The 

 Court of Appeals has recently reversed this decision, concluding 

 that the use of the word "Gnidroc" was intended to secure the- 

 advantage of the word "Gording," and therefore calculated to 

 deceive. 



THE 



ER. 



It is with great regret that 1 have to record the death of J. E. 

 Baxter, principal of the firm of J. E. Baxter Co., Limited. Mr. 

 Baxter was a well known personality in the trade, having been 

 connected with the rubber industry during his whole business 

 life Some years ago he made a most strenuous trip to South 

 .Africa, and it seemed to me and to others that his health was. 

 soinewhat seriously affected, and that he never really recovered 

 the good health he enjoyed previous to that time. He was one 

 of the first of our manufacturers to take a practical interest in 

 rubber planting, and I remember, many years ago. being told 

 l)y a mining engineer in London that he had been at a rubber 

 plantation meeting in the city, when a man named Baxter got 

 up in the hall and spoke about rubber in such an authoritativ* 

 way that it made the remarks of the chairman and other speak- 

 ers seem rather poor in comparison. Mr. Baxter was of a genial 

 disposition, and will be much missed by a wide circle of friends. 



George A. Morton, formerly assistant works manager of 

 Pirelli & Go.'s cable works at Southampton, England, has re- 

 signed and accepted a similar position with the Dunlop Rubber 

 Co., Limited, at its Birmingham factory. 



Should be on every rubber man's desk— Crude Rubber and 

 Compounding Ingredients ; Rubber Country of the Amazon ; 

 Rubber Trade Directory of the World. 



