Skptember 1, 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



683 



The India Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



AS far as government (jrilers are concerned Imsiness remains 

 brisk in mechanical, lint lias fallen off in proofed goods. 

 with the result that solvent naphtha is obtainable at much 

 more reasonable prices than prevailed a year ago. Side lights on 

 the importance of various processes and departments are reflected 

 from time to time in the application made to the tribunals for 

 e-\emptions. A successful application" was made the other day 

 for the managei- of a new rubber reclaiming factory on the 

 ground that he was engaged in urgent w^ork for the government. 

 This sounds rather odd to those of us who have long been famil- 

 iar with the clause in government specifications for rubber goods, 

 notifying that no crumb rubber, reclaimed rubber, or rubber 

 substitute may be used. Possibly this restriction may not be 

 enforced at the present time, for some classes of goods at least. 

 If this surmise is correct, it will be a source of gratification to 

 manufacturers of high-grade alkali reclaim, who have long held 

 that the clause should be deleted. In mentioning government 

 orders, it must be noted that such do not refer to the British 

 Government only, but to the Allies as well, and it may be that 

 the specifications of different countries .show variations. I may 

 mention that the analytical tests which government rubber has 

 to stand preclude the use of organic matter such as oils, and, 

 therefore, it may be considered redundant to mention that they 

 are rnled out. Thus the usual stipulation at the present time is 

 ''the rubber of the mi.xture must not yield more than 10 per cent 

 of organic acetone extract, and not more than 10 per cent of 

 organic alcoholic potash e-xtract after removal of acetone ex- 

 tract." I may amplify this reference to reclaimed rubber by 

 mentioning that two new works have recently been started, thus 

 testifying to the good condition of the trade. Later on I hope to 

 say more about these ventures. 



SOME PENDI.Xr, LEGISLATION. 



One or two matters concerning politics are not without interest 

 to rubber manufacturers at present. One is the bill which has 

 already passed the House of Lords, which is to compel com- 

 panies and firms or individuals trading under assumed names, 

 to register the correct names of the partners. Thus the X. Y. 

 Z. Rubber Co.. makers of certain rubber goods, will have to reg- 

 ister the names of the proprietors for public inspection. A bill 

 to this end was brought in some years ago, but failed to pass. 

 The favorable reception given to the present bill is due to the 

 desire of traders to know whether firms with British titles are 

 owned or not by those who at the moment are enemy aliens. 



Turning to another matter, it is common knowledge that many 

 British tire manufacturers have been keen on the stoppage of 

 the imports of American tires, but for certain reasons the gov- 

 ernment has taken no action in the matter. The importation of 

 other classes of goods, for instance, soap, has, however, been 

 stopped, but there is by no means unanimous opinion among man- 

 ufacturers that if such war time measures are perpetuated it 

 would be to their ultimate advantage. A manufacturer said to 

 me recently : "I would rather have .American competition from 

 over the water than have the .Americans coming over here and 

 putting up works next door to mine, which they probably would 

 do." 



With regard to pneumatic tires, it was reported that the Ford 

 company was making preparations to produce its own tires and 

 had taken extra land in Trafford Park, Manchester, for the pur- 

 pose. This was when, in a previous budget, it was proposed to 

 put an import tax on tires. .-Xs this p'oposal did not mature, the 

 idea seems to have been abandoned; at any rate, for the present. 



CRUDE RUBBER PRICES. 



The price continues to favor buyer rather than seller, though 

 the general opinion seems to be that if the commodity goes 

 any lower it will only be to a trifling extent. Cautious 

 but steady buying for future needs has been the rule lately, 

 though I do not think that much credence may be attached to 

 the somewhat sensational story that one of our largest works 

 has bought very largely at Is. 7d. per pound for future delivery. 

 Fine hard keeps up its premium over plantation, the supply being 

 somewhat less than a year ago, and there are the usual buyers 

 who want this quality and will not look at anything else. It was 

 noticeable at a recent auction that fine hard rose 54 penny per 

 pound while at the same time plantation fell yi penny. I under- 

 stand that the slow American demand is to be attributed in part 

 at any rate to the election. On this side we don't let elections 

 interfere with business, but there is probably a difference in 

 the election. 



As to the future the opinion is widely held that there will be 

 no more 3 shilling plantation, until peace comes and with it 

 the German demand, which will, of course, be a large one. 



CHEMIC.VL SOCIETY MEETING. 

 . .\mong the large number of papers which were read and dis- 

 cussions which took place at the annual meeting of the Society 

 of Chemical Industry, held this year in July, at Edinburgh, 

 rubber was not mentioned at all, nor were any of the rubber 

 manufacturers who are members present. In connection with 

 the meeting there was an exhibition of dyes, various fine chem- 

 icals, and glass and porcelain laboratory apparatus produced 

 for the first time in Britain and previously obtained from enemy 

 countries. The North British Rubber Co. showed a large variety 

 of erasing rubber goods, which though of course by no means 

 new to British trade, have been imported largely, in the past, 

 from Central Europe. .An interesting exhibit was the blue oxide 

 of cobalt made for the first time in Britain by the Beaverhall 

 Colour Co., of Edinburgh, the source being Canadian cobalt ore. 

 The exhibit of the Broxburn Oil Co., Limited, D. R. Stewart's 

 paper on the Shale Oil Industry and the visit of the members to 

 the works of the Pumpherston Oil Co. at Midcalder had associated 

 interests with the rubber trade. This industry, like many others, 

 has benefited by the war. For one thing, since the rise in the 

 price of coal tar naphtha, the shale spirit, which has always been 

 used to a limited extent, has been in greatly increased demand 

 by Scotch proofers, and has probably gone over the border. In 

 the course of a paper on recent developments in coke oven 

 practice it was stated that at one place the waste gases were 

 being burned under iron plates for the production of lamp black. 

 The process was kept a secret and the reader of the paper knew 

 notliing of the quality of the black. This development is of im- 

 portance because of the scarcity and high price of American 

 carbon black at the present time. One of the speakers said with 

 regard to the utilization of the present glut of coal tar pitch, that 

 the efforts which had been made to convert it into natural 

 asphalt, or at any rate, to a body with the physical characteristics 

 of the latter, had not been crowned with success. 



Papers which were read in reference to the manufacture of 

 fine chemicals and medicinal chemicals testified to the great pro- 

 gress which has been made in these branches in the last two 

 years, a branch of manufacture in which Britain has always been 

 backward. This should mean an increased demand for vulcanite 

 and gutta percha, which are used to a much larger extent than 

 in the heavy chemical manufactures. .At the close of the meet- 



