THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Septemder 1, 1919. 



The Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



/;v Our Regular 

 THE SHORTER WEEK AND PRODUCTION. 



AT THE ANNUAL MEETING of the National Joint Industrial 

 Council for the Rubber Trade, held in Manchester on 

 July 9, 1919, Mr. J. T. Goudie was reelected chairman on 

 the suggestion of the operatives, notwithstanding the fact that, 

 according to the constitution, it was the right of the latter to 

 elect a new chairman. The operatives said they were grateful 

 to Mr. Goudie for his constant courtesy and for the impartial 

 way in which he had administered the business of the council. 

 It will be interesting to see if this action of the rubber workers 

 is copied in any other of tlie various industrial councils. The 

 most important feature of Mr. Goudie's address was in reference 

 to the 47-hour week. He assured the operatives that the 

 employers are in no way opposed to shorter hours and higher 

 wages, but he emphasized the vital necessity for a full pro- 

 duction. The fullest possible output is necessary in order to 

 cope with the competition which, keen at present, is likely to 

 become even more severe in the near future. He made the 

 suggestion that both sides should appoint special subcommittees 

 to consider this matter. This is a really important subject and 

 it is agitating the minds of employers in most branches of 

 industry. It is no good thinking the fact that the shorter work- 

 ing week means a decreased output, a more unfortunate state 

 of affairs when order books are well filled. Nor do I think 

 that a remedy will be easily found by appeals to the operatives. 

 The British workman will not readily change his acquired habit 

 of turning out so much work in a given time. The policy of 

 hustle, which I believe is not unknown in America, does not 

 appeal to him, and I am afraid that the economic interests of 

 the country generally do not come up for much consideration. 

 From what employers in the Rubber Trade tell me, I gather 

 that they are not at all hopeful of increasing output except in 

 the way of doing by machinery what has hitherto been done 

 largely by hand, and it would mean that there is plenty of 

 scope for the exercise of ingenuity in bringing about the tran- 

 sition from hand to machine work in departments of the industry 

 in which manual labor has hitherto ruled supreme. 



.\Ithough the trade generally has plenty of busine.ss on hand, 

 both for home and foreign account, we seem to be continually 

 held up by labor troubles of one sort or another. 



THE COAL SITUATION. 



At the time of writing the coal strike in Yorkshire has caused 

 many textile concerns to shut down. The temporary closing of 

 the works of the Bradford Dyers' Association has caused a stop- 

 page of the delivery of certain classes of textiles urgently wanted 

 by the Manchester proofing works. Then there is the 6s. per ton 

 addition to the cost of coal, which the rubber manufacturers 

 say will have to be passed on to the purchaser of goods. With 

 regard to this item of cost in manufactures generally, it will 

 probably turn out that it will be made the occasion, or the 

 excuse, for a larger addition to the price of finished goods than 

 is necessary or warranted. 



There must be borne in mind not only the additional cost of the 

 coal used as such, but also the higher price of electric power 

 now so largely used in rubber works. Further, the increased 

 metallurgists' and engineers' cost will be duly passed on to the 

 buyers of machinery, which will now cost more. 



It is quite possible that the increase in manufacturing costs 

 may improve the rate of organic accelerators, as the point of 

 the largest output in a given time will be of greater importance. 

 Otherwise, the high price of the accelerators, which cost from 



Correspondent. 



two to three shillings per pound, as against so many pence for 

 sulphur, has been against their more extended use. 

 PATENTS AND DESIGNS BILL. 



One of the principal objects of the new Patents and Designs 

 Bill now being considered, is to prevent foreign patents received 

 in this country being exploited mainly in the interests of the 

 country of their origin. 



PROOFING CASE SETTLED. 



The action listed at the Manchester July Assizes, Quas- 

 Cohen v. Ferguson, Shiers & Co., was settled on terms after 

 being brought into court. The plaintiflfs, Quas-Cohen & Wilks, 

 waterproof garment manufacturers of Cheetham, Manchester, 

 and Ferguson, Shiers & Co., of Failsworth, Manchester, rubber 

 proofers, for breach of contract and damage caused to certain 

 clolh by defective proofing. The case was concerned with a 

 contract which the plaintiff obtained in 1917 for the supply of 

 100,000 military ground sheets, the manufacture of some of 

 which was arranged with the defendants. Of the goods proofed 

 by the defendants, however, 4,000 were rejected in expert 

 examination as not being properly vulcanized and they remained 

 on this plaintiff's hands as practically useless. Shortly after 

 the case was opened an agreement was come to whereby judg- 

 ment was entered for the plaintiff for £1,375, the rejected goods 

 to Temain in the plaintiff's possession. 



It may, perhaps, be mentioned that the defendants are a 

 distinct firm from A. O. Ferguson & Co., Limited, which carries 

 on a similar business in the same neighborhood. 

 INQUESTS ON FIRES. 



Under the City of London Fire Inquest Act of 1868, it is 

 compulsory to hold coroner's inquests into the cause of factory 

 fires, although outside London no enquiries are held unless 

 fatalities have been recorded. In view of several large fires 

 which have recently occurred in the north of England, it has 

 been suggested that the London system might be extended with 

 advantage to the country, or that, at any rate, the American 

 system of having a fire marshal in manufacturing towns. The 

 general rule in our towns is to state that the cause of the fire 

 is unknown and it is rarely that any officials desire a proper 

 investigation into the circumstances. In the earlier days of the 

 war several fires occurred in our rubber works, but there is 

 nothing on record by which the experience gained could be 

 utilized by others as a help to preventive measures. The common 

 remark that the fire was caused by defective insulation is 

 resented by cable makers, and spontaneous combustion is fre- 

 quently adduced to cover carelessness. It is, I believe, generally 

 accepted that fires in proofing works are more common with 

 petroleum spirit than with coal tar naphtha, but I doubt if it is 

 generally recognized that the cause is due to tlie greater facility 

 with which the former solvent becomes electrically charged and 

 capable of ignition by a spark caused by friction. With regard 

 to the general question of the loss caused by fires, it is not 

 enough nowadays to assert that the loss is covered by in- 

 surance. There is the present difficulty of replacing damaged 

 machinery, to say nothing of the higher price which has to be 

 paid. -Ml things considered, then, it would seem that fire inquests 

 should be far more general, and the valuable information which 

 would be obtained could be summarized in handy form for the 

 guidance of others engaged in similar industries. 



NEW CORPORATIONS. 



Mr. Alfred Smith, of Excelsior Works, Clayton, Manchester, 

 manufacturers of rubber substitute, reclaimed rubber and 



