268 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Fkbri 



The Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE AFTERMATH OF WAR. 



TJIE SIGNIXG of the armistice did not, of course, bring all 

 contract work to a close, though it meant that all pressure 

 was suspended and overtime rendered unnecessary. The 

 general opinion among rubber manufacturers is that the govern- 

 ment departments have treated them very fairly where deliveries 

 on contract were no longer required. As a rule the officials have 

 discussed matters with the manufacturers, and where it was 

 evident that hardship or loss would result from the goods being 

 left on the manufacturers' hands, satisfactory terms have been 

 arranged. The interest of the moment is the transfer from war 

 requirements to civilian business and although the civilian de- 

 mands are large, owing to depleted stocks, competition of the 

 keenest character has set in at once. This is especially the case 

 with waterproof goods on account of the large number of plants 

 available. 



COMPETITION IN THE PROOFING TRADE. 



It is said that the number of spreading machines in Great 

 Britain has increased three-fold during the war, and the problem 

 is how tq find work for them. Not only have old established 

 firms largely increased their number of machines, but there are 

 now new works in existence, and these latter have not the old 

 trade connections that the former have. As one instance of the 

 result of competition may be mentioned a certain proofing which 

 fell from Is. 6d. to lOd. per yard in the course of a few days. 

 Competition of this sort in the old days meant increased use 

 of substitute. Probably reclaims will now be in greater demand 

 than substitute for reducing costs, though their use is more com- 

 plicated owing to the calculations necessitated from their vary- 

 ing content of mineral matter. A large demand has sprung up 

 lately from both sexes for the black-surface, single-texture water- 

 proof. It is a good many years now since this class of goods 

 was almost a monopoly of one or two firms, owing to the de- 

 tails of the manufacture not being generally known. At the 

 present time these black-surfaced goods are being turned out 

 successfully by most of the firms which specialize in spreading. 

 They are now of all qualities and prices and the high-quality- 

 formula, which alone was used twenty-five years ago, has now 

 to compete with many lower-grade formulas. 



Business generally in all trades is in a very stagnant position 

 as nobody seems inclined to buy anything. The idea is that 

 prices must fall all around and purchases are l)eing deferred 

 wherever possible. This applies also to rubber chemicals; manu- 

 facturers and agents are pushing for contracts at figures which 

 certainly show a decline on those which have been ruling, but 

 buyers are holding off as they think better terms will shortly 

 be forthcoming. The very keeness of sellers to fix up contracts 

 is a proof of what they think. 



Solvent naphtha has dropped 'but is still quoted over 3.f. a gal- 

 lon, making its careful use a necessity in competitive work. 



It is understood that the whole situation as regards the influence 

 of the greatly increased spreading capacity of proofing works 

 in relation to the 'business likely to be available is a matter 

 which is now engaging the close attention of the India Rubber 

 Manufacturers' .Association, and it will be interesting to watch 

 developments. 



Matters in the mechanical trade are in much the same state 

 of suspended animation. The head of a prominent firm told me 

 that new business recently had been of the most meager descrip- 

 tion, though this did not cause him any concern as he had 

 plenty of work held up which he could now resume. The gen- 

 era! election has naturally been a disturbing factor which was 

 followed closely by the Christmas holidays 



In times of good business very few firms go into court to 

 settle disputes and there has been very little litigation during 

 the last four years. It is natural to suppose that the lawyers 

 will now have a better time, and indeed I hear of one or two 

 cases, and by no means insignificant ones, which are e.vpected 

 to come into court before long. 



CONDUCT OF THE RAW RUBBER TRADE. 



In some recent remarks on the raw rubber trade in "The 

 Economist," it is stated that probably no trade is conducted in 

 a more haphazard and unorganized manner, and this because 

 of the large number of individual producers, keen competition 

 between them and conflicting vested interests which are per- 

 mitted to stand in the way of every reform. This results in 

 extremely wide price fluctuations from time to time doing much 

 harm to every branch of the trade. 



As an attempt to deal with a situation in which there are 

 very dangerous elements it is suggested that a "term" market 

 should be established in London and that all British-owned 

 rubber should as far as possible be shipped to this country. 

 This has been done with useful effect in the case of cofifee and 

 some other markets. The further statements to the effect that 

 the trade is faced with critical conditions in the near future, and 

 that rubber will probably be selling for long periods at less than 

 the cost of production will, by some authorities at any rate, 

 be considered as couched in a too pessimistic tone. 

 RUBBER IN AIRPLANES. 



Day by day we are being enlightened on matters which have 

 been kept secret during the war, and airplane construction is 

 a subject which is now being talked about openly by authorities 

 from Lord Weir, the Air Minister, downwards. It certainly 

 appears that we are on the eve of a great development of air- 

 plane construction all over the world, and the article in the 

 December issue of The India Rubber World on "Rubber in Air- 

 plane Construction" is of timely interest to the rubber trade, 

 ^lany rubber goods, of course, have been made for the service, 

 but they have been made fo specification and very little detail 

 as to their specific use has been vouchsafed. Now that the seal 

 of secrecy has lieen broken there will be scope for individual 

 enterprise. 



WASTE RUBBER SALVAGE. 



This scheme, to which I made a brief reference on a former 

 occasion, has now been developed and put into action. It is 

 under the joint organization of the Ministry of National Ser- 

 vice, the National Salvage Council, the British .Red Cross and 

 the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. The object is to provide 

 funds for the operation of the Red Cross. Appeals have ap- 

 peared in the press asking the public to bring all articles of 

 rubber such as motor and cycle tires, hose, belting, clothing, 

 hot water bottles, toys, etc., to certain central dumps established 

 in large towns. The War Office has undertaken to purchase 

 all of the rubber goods collected. If this is to be done on strict 

 business lines I should say that it will require a super-expert 

 to arrive at the market value of a dump. 



JAR-RING TESTS. 



The article on this subject in the December issue of The I.n-dia 

 Rubber World was of great interest. It certainly seems that 

 goods of this sort should be sold with a guaranty that they 

 are fit for the purpose intended if loss of money and disappoint- 

 ment in the household are not to result. Up to the last year 

 or two the bottling of fruit had been carried out in only a few 

 households, but the advent of peripatetic government lecturers 

 explaining the process led, or was expected to lead, to' its wide- 



