November 1, 1916. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



103 



RUBBER TIRES IN NORWAY. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 ■ I 'HE prosperity now prevailing in Norway is reflected in the 

 ^ increased use of motor vehicles, both pleasure and business. 

 By far the larger number of automobiles imported come from 

 the United States, but large consignments are also received from 

 Italy. All these are imported without tires. 



Under an arrangement with the British authorities, all rubber 

 tires are imported into Norway through London and consigned 

 only to the Royal Automobile Club. Christiania. The club dis- 

 tributes the tires to the dealers, who are obliged to give guaranties 

 that they are to be used only in Norway. The greatly increased 

 demand for automobiles has made it difficult to obtain rubber 

 tires sufficient to supply the requirements of the trade. 



Last October, as was reported in The India Rubber World, 

 the automobile club succeeded in obtaining permission to import 

 9,000 automobile tires, 4,800 motor tubes and 800 motorcycle 

 tires during the current year. At that time the quantity was 

 deemed sufiicient for the needs of the country. The prosperous 

 times, however, have upset all calculations. While on January 

 1, 1916, there were registered in Norway only 1,520 automobiles, 

 the number has now increased to 2,084, and it has become 

 apparent that the automobile supplies for which licenses had 

 been obtained will not last through the year. The secretary 

 of the automobile club recently went to London to confer with 

 the authorities there on the subject, and has succeeded now in 

 securing an extension of the limit on tires and tubes for auto- 

 mobiles and motorcycles. 



The distribution of the tires will be handled jointly by the 

 Royal Automobile Club of Norway and the Rubber Importers 

 Association, organized under the auspices of the club. For every 

 new tire delivered a worn-out one must be turned in to the club. 



SOME FOREIGN RUBBER NOTES. 



TIRES IN SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES. 



'T'tlE tire famine in Scandinavian countries continues acute, 

 •^ especially in Norway and Sweden. 



In the early months of the war and during the year 1915 

 many tires were smuggled from Scandinavia into Germany, and 

 now Great Britain, which holds the key to the tire situation in 

 Europe, is applying most stringent measures in controlling the 

 supply to European neutrals, allowing but small consignments, 

 and these at infrequent times. 



The result of this is that a set of average-sized tires to-day in 

 Sweden costs the price of a Ford car in the Ihiited States. In 

 Stockholm 34.\4 tire casings sell for the equivalent of $150 in 

 United States gold, and $25 is a current price for inner tubes 

 of the same size. 



SWISS TRADE IN RUBBER GOODS. 



Imports of rubber and rubber goods into Switzerland during 

 the year 1915 amounted to $1,624,026, against $1,562,425 during 

 1914. Export of similar articles amounted to $512,428 and $,'?.35,- 

 266 during the years 1915 and 1914, respectively. 



Reexportation of raw and manufactured rubber is only allowed 

 to those countries from which or through which the articles or 

 raw materials have been imported and into countries that are 

 allies of these. 



The Contraband Department of the British Foreign Office has 

 caused publication of a list of articles in respect of which licenses 

 for export to Switzerland are only granted if the goods are con- 

 signed to the S. S. S. (Societe Suisse de Sur\eillance Econo- 

 mique). .•\mong the articles listed are: All forms of rubber, 

 balata, gutta percha, raw or re-melted (sic), including waste and 

 ebonite ; rubber wares ; rubber-proofed and rubber-mixed goods. 



Erasers, toys, drains, gloves, injectors, dental rubber and mixed 

 rubber wares, partly rubber, can be sent under what is known as 



the small parcel scheme ; that is to say, they may be exported 

 from Great Britain to Switzerland without an acceptance certifi- 

 cate from the S. S. S. But this does not prejudice the right of 

 the War Trade Department to insist on the production of a cer- 

 tificate from the S. S. S., where this is considered desirable. All 

 parcels must be consigned to tlie S. S. S. for account of the ulti- 

 mate consignee, via the International Postal Parcels Bureau, 

 Pontarlier, France. 



PORTUGUESE EMBARGO ON RUBBER. 



On .August 14 the Portuguese Government issued a decree 

 declaring certain merchandise contraband of war. On a schedule 

 of these contraband goods appear rubber, gutta percha, and 

 similar substances, including these commodities in the crude 

 state, reclaimed, or as waste, solutions, cements, and goods made 

 partly or wholly thereof. 



RUBBER IN HERRING BARRELS. 



.A-n English contemporary states that a German merchant, rep- 

 resenting a German rubber factory, and three other persons, were 

 sentenced at Copenhagen, Denmark, recently, to 120 days' impris- 

 onment, each, and, in addition, fines, amounting to 350,000 

 kronen [$91,000], were imposed for smuggling raw rubber from 

 Denmark into Germany concealed in salt herring barrels. 



JAPAN' S IMPORTS OF CRUDE RUBBER. 



According to the official trade returns of Japan, the total value 

 of crude rubber and gutta percha imported during the first six 

 months of 1916 amounted to 3.626,000 yen [average value of yen 

 for this period, .5075 cents] against 1,560,000 yen during the cor- 

 responding period of 1915, more than 220 per cent. 



RUBBER BRINGS PROSPERITY TO SHANGHAI. 



The American Consul General at Shanghai, China, reports that 

 local investments in rubber plantations in Malaya appreciated 

 largely in value during the year 1915 and brought much ready 

 money into the hands of investors ; the large sums invested in 

 1910, the year of the rubber boom, were to a certain extent 

 recovered. The appreciation of rubber investments had a bene- 

 ficial influence on retail trade, as investors who made large 

 profits were more inclined to buy lu.xuries. 



MULTIPLE FACTORY SYSTEM ON RUBBER PLANTATIONS, 



It has for some time been the tendency on Far Eastern ruliber 

 plantations to build one or two very large buildings and there 

 centralize the work of curing the output of the estate. 



The Mooply Valley Rubber Co.. Limited (Ceylon), has de- 

 parted from this practice and is completing six factories — one 

 on each division of its estates. Five of these factories will turn 

 out high-grade crude rubber, each serving 800 to 1,000 acres, and 

 one factory will deal entirely with scrap. Because the transport 

 of latex will be materially less, it is considered that this multiple 

 factory system will give as good results from an economical point 

 of view as where one large factory is used. Other advantages 

 will be five managers' competing with each other in trying to 

 turn out the best rubber possible, each man having the responsi- 

 bility of growing, cultivating and turning out the finished crude 

 rubber. Thus there will be interest and emulation that can 

 hardly be expected imder present conditions. Smaller individual 

 plants will make for closer supervision and thus facilitate the 

 production of quality as well as quantity. .Another definite ad- 

 vantage of this system of one factory for each division is that 

 if a breakdown or a fire occurs in any factory, there will be no 

 great trouble in b;uidling the latex in the other plants of the 

 same estate. 



