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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1916. 



The India Rubber Trade In Great Britain. 



liy Our Regular Corrcsfoiidcnt 



WITH the passing of the Compulsory Service Rill for married 

 men the question of labor in rubber works has now 

 reached an acute stage and many small manufacturers are 

 at their wits' end how to carry on. Unlike banks and business 

 houses, generally, rubber works have long been accustomed to 

 employ female labor for tasks for which it has been found ade- 

 quate and suitable, and the managers know better to what e.xtent 

 it is possible or advisable to replace men to a greater extent by 

 women, than do the official compilers of a detailed list of occupa- 

 tions in which further substitution is recommended. For in- 

 stance, it is difficult to find any approval in the trade for the pro- 

 posal that women might be substituted for men on heavy 

 machinery such as washers, mixers and calenders, and it will 

 more likely result, in the case of small works, where the mixers 

 have gone, that their work will be abandoned for the time being. 

 Certain relaxations of the Factory Acts, especially with regard to 

 the employment of women, have been officially granted and, in 

 fact, every encouragement is being given to manufacturers to get 

 along as best they can under the altered conditions. Of course 

 there is no shortage of materials, and consequently no need to 

 turn out special war qualities of goods such as are pathetically 

 referred to by the correspondent of The India Rubber World 

 in another country. At the same time one often hears of goods, 

 especially certain lines of proofings, being accepted by buyers, 

 though they have imperfections which would have caused their 

 rejection in other days. Nowadays, the buyer has often to eat 

 humble pie to get the goods he wants and he cannot afiford to be 

 too particular or to stand too much on his dignity. 

 THE TIRE IMPORT nECISION, 

 The decision of the government not to stop the import of for- 

 eign tires has led to a good deal of feeling in quarters where a 

 ban on the import of American tires had been confidently antici- 

 pated. The difficulties in the way of interfering with the Ameri- 

 can business under certain agreements now in operation between 

 the two countries had not been appreciated, and though the posi- 

 tion is accepted philosophically, there is a strong disposition to 

 grumble, and further endeavors, it is understood, will be made 

 by some of those directly interested, to see if the government 

 decision cannot be altered. The latest restrictions regarding the 

 use of petrol for motoring, whereby the pleasure car is to be 

 penalized, will, of course, have an adverse effect upon the tire 

 trade and should automatically lead to a reduction in imports. 

 WOOLWORTH BUYING ENGLISH RUBBER GOODS. 

 Some of the smaller rubber works which are not engaged on 

 government work are busy turning out goods which larger firms 

 have no time to attend to. For instance, large orders for rubber 

 sundries have been received from America, which I understand 

 went to Germany in pre-war times. In this connection the name 

 ■of the large American firm, F. W. VVooIworth & Co., is men- 

 tioned. This firm, which deals in a large variety of goods sold 

 at low prices, has, I understand, 300 sho|)s in America and pos- 

 sesses a building 50 stories in height. 



Wir.I. CONSIDER THE G.\RMENT WORKERS' STRIKE. 

 The recent formation of a waterproof section of the India Rub- 

 ber Manufacturers' Association is interesting and is another 

 instance of the advance in activity of the association since the 

 present chairman, Mr. Goudie, took office. The new section 

 has an important matter in hand in the dispute as to wages in 

 the waterproof garment trade in Lancashire, no settlement hav- 

 ing yet been reached. 



RAW RUBBER. 



The position remains more satisfactory to the manufacturer 

 than the producer, the demand for spot rubber being quiet show- 

 ing a tendency to await future developments. At the same time, 

 holders of stocks arc in no hurry to sell, believing that the big 

 consumers cannot hold ofif the market much longer. The ex- 

 pected depletion of British stocks has not come about, mainly 

 on account of the smaller exports to the United States, due to 

 greater difficulties in obtaining export licenses. 

 THE SYNTHETIC BOGEY. 



From autlientic accounts to hand, it seems to be a fact that 

 the German shortage of raw rubber for tires has been overcome 

 by the use of synthetic rubber, which has given satisfaction in 

 the war zone. This, though interesting, does not, of course, af- 

 fect the view generally held that there is extremely little likeli- 

 hood of synthetic rubber competing with natural rubber in nor- 

 mal times. Nowadays, when certain materials are wanted for 

 war purposes, the price is a very secondary consideration and 

 it is quite probable that at the present price of raw rubber in 

 Germany the synthetic product can compete successfully. Famine 

 prices for certain goods, especially chemicals, are being paid in 

 most of the belligerent countries at the present time and no out- 

 cry comes from the sellers thereof, whatever the buyers may 

 have to say on the matter. 



NORTH BRITISH RUBBER CO., LIMITED. 



The May meeting of the Edinburgh and East of Scotland Sec- 

 tion of the Society of Chemical Industry was held in the new 

 laboratory of the North British Rubber Co., Limited, Castle 

 Mills, Professor Walker presiding. 



W. A. Williams extended to the society and the visitors a 

 hearty welcome on behalf of the management of the company 

 and expressed the hope that the meeting would be the fore- 

 runner of many others in the district and that manufacturers 

 would come forward and show the society what they were doing 

 in scientific and, particularly, chemical work. He apologized for 

 the absence of the company's general manager, Mr. Johnstone, 

 and for the fact that on account of the depletion of the laboratory 

 staff by about SO per cent through the war, there was not so 

 much to show them as if the times were normal. Professor 

 Walker, in reply, said if was excessively kind of the North' 

 British Rubber Co. to let them have this opportunity of seeing 

 its laboratories. It was just at a time like this when the war 

 had made their minds more open than usual that tliese privileges 

 were most useful and most appreciated. He had always felt from 

 the academical point of view that those who taught in univer- 

 sities had far too little experience in seeing how matters were 

 conducted on a technical and commercial scale, and it was 

 quite certain that if we were to hold our own in the industrial 

 competition which was sure to follow the war, not only with 

 Germany but with other nations, we must more and more have 

 the combination of technical with academic chemistry. The 

 academic chemists must have their minds directed towards the 

 technical openings of the theories and researches which they 

 put before the students and, on the other side, the technical 

 students must be ready to welcome the latest results of research. 

 A paper on the "Raw Material Used by the Rubber Manufac- 

 turer" was read by B. D. Porritt and one on "Some Aspects of 

 Synthetic Rubber" by B. D. W. Luflf. 



EXPORTATION OF TALC PROHIBITED. 



The government has added talc to the list of articles the 

 exportation of which is prohibited to all foreign countries in 



