May 1. 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WOR]LD 



463 



BRITISH NEWS NOTES. 



English rubber manufacturers arc being onsiderable ex- 



pense through the railways' refusal to accept empty cases. Both 

 laboi and w I fh and much money pent un- 



necessarily on packing Many houses have resorted to forward- 

 ing their good rong parcels. 



Tire manufacturers are busy with the opening of the new sea- 

 son. The grea I is for tires for fight cars. 



The mechanical trade i- fairly good and the rubber heel trade 

 has also improved since the war began. There is an unprece- 

 dented demai bed sheetings, both with single and double 



face. 



The British Insulated & Helsby Cables, Limited, of Helsby, 

 Cheshire, has declared a final dividend, which brings the total 

 for the year up > 15 per cent. Dividends for 1913 amounted to 

 13 [ier cent. 



The International ["yre & Rubber Co., Limited, has recentl] 

 been registered in London, with a capital of £5,000, and with 

 offices at 1 Marsham street, Westminster, S \\ E M. Reid 

 and .1. A. Howard are named as first direct..,-. 



Tin iffice has been transferred, temporarily — 



until peaceful conditions are again established in Belgium — to 

 India House, King-way, \Y. C, London, and publication oi the 

 "Bulletin Agricole du Congo Beige," which had been suspended, 

 will \er> so .u be resumed. 



The Rubber and Tin Exports Committee. London, to which 

 all applications must be made for licenses to export these prod- 

 ucts, on April 6 removed its offices from the Westminster Pa 

 Hotel to . ; Queen Anne'- date, Westminster, S. W . 



Sir John French, of the British Army? explained the retreat 

 of the French troops before Ypres, on April 22, by saying that 



Courtesy of AT. Y. Times. 



English Soldiers Guarding Against Asphyxiating Shells. 



they weir overcomi bj fumes, "the Germans making use of 

 appliances for the production of asphyxiating '4a-." The photo- 

 graph reproduced above shows the soldiers digging in the 

 trenches protecting themselves from the effects of these gas- 

 producing shells \ respirator is often worn, which is made oi 

 soft rubber that tits closely over the nose and mouth and is 

 equipped with a tillering sponge. Most of the soldiers shown in 

 the picture appear to have improvised a respirator by tying hand- 

 le rchiefs over their faces, filled undoubtedly with a wet pad of 

 cotton wool or some other porous material. 



About 150 aeroplanes, valued at from $3,000 to $4,000 each, 

 were received at Tacoma, Washington, early in April, for ship- 

 ment to Vladivostok, Russia, by Japanese steamship, for use by 

 the Russian armv. 



FRANCE'S COMMERCE IN RUBBER GOODS. 



The following tabli cording to a report under date- 



March 11, by Consul General A. M. Thackara, stationed at 

 Paris, slu.w the commerce of France in crude rubber and 

 manufactured rubber goods Tor 1913 and 1914: 



1913. 1914. 



.A. ./, 



Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value 



Metric tons. Metric tons. 



I 17.441 $23,607,000 11,567 $15,711 



ts sf crude rubber lo.os? 14,579,000 6,489 8,817,000 



i i in, ...Hi u . .: .'.1 i ubbcr 



good 3,326 8,566,000 2,043 5,287,000 



of manufactured rubber 



goods 6,930 19,356,000 6,068 17,151,000 



The table below shows the distribution of this foreign com- 

 merce t'..r the year 1914: 



Great 

 ils from Belgium. Germany. Britain. Russia. St 



rubber ...$207,000 $455,000 $6,943,000 $806,000 



Manufactured rubber 



625.00,0 1,861,000 2,199,000 $65,000 143.000 



: tO 



1 ii ... I : .1 li ! II 



goods -.1,285,000 875,000 5,333,000 58,000 



There were also shipped from the Paris consular district to 

 the United States, the Philippines and Porto Rico, during 

 1914. rubber goods and waste to the value of $295,794, against 

 similar exports in 1913 amounting to $482,376; from the Reims 

 district, rubber substitutes valued in 1914 at $17,183 and in 

 1913 at $23,059. 



In the scale at which motor vehicles are impressed into the 



military service in France; tire- in g 1 condition are rated at 



£10 e.i 



EMBARGOES. 



On March 12 Sweden added to the list of articles prohibited 

 export from tiiat country, coppei wire — rubber insulated and 

 other — also articles of rubber for medical or hygienic use, 

 gun. i percha paper and plasters. 



A decree of March 30 prohibits the export from Spain to for- 

 eign countries of crude rubber, both natural and artificial, and 

 of similar materials. 



Denmark has also prohibited the export from that country of 

 inner tubes and cover- and other goods made principally of 

 rubber, together with reclaimed rubber and rubber waste. 



The Turkish Government has recently placed cables, cable 

 materials, benzine and rubber on the conditional contraband list. 



RUBBER SMUGGLING. 



A report from Naples, Italy, by way of Paris, tells of the 



discovery by thi pol I an attempt to smuggle through Italy 



a large quantity of contraband goods apparently intended for 

 Germany. Vmong these are said to have been 300 hogsheads 

 labeled resin but which actually contained gutta percha; these 

 being from the United States and consigned to Germany. 



In the cargo of the steamer "Rysbergen," chartered by the 

 Rotterdamsche Lloyd, rubber is said to have been found con- 

 cealed in tobacco, of which 500 packets were consigned t" an 

 Vmsterdam firm. \ workman discovered the rubber and an 

 official investigation i- understood to have been started. 



AUSTRIAN RUBBER REGULATIONS, 



All rubber tires, except those in use and bicycle and horse- 

 drawn vehicle tires, are subject to a new decree issued by the 

 Austrian Government, and sworn statements concerning their 

 kind, number and measurements are to be filed in the proper 

 courts i n the lir--t and fifteenth of each month. The object of 

 this decree is to plan- in the hands of the government full in- 

 formation concerning all available tires. As soon as this in- 

 formation i- secured previous decrees prohibiting the sale of 

 tires altogether will be modified so as to affect only such sizes 

 and kinds of tires as are needed for military purposes. 



