

THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



\ 11 -r l. 1915. 



GERMAN MILITARY USES OF MOTOR VEHICLES. 



Ammi-Zeitung" contains an int 

 the various ways in which th( hide 



|, as : in military • iperations 1 he i 



important - article arc covered in the following 



k of the war the manufacture of tires has 

 mi item in the German rubber in- 

 dustry. The fact that Germany's isolation from the sources ' 

 supply of crude rub ibliged the German government to 



prohibit th< crude rubber for other than military 



le for this state oi affairs but it cannot 

 : under modern war conditions motor vehicles 

 make the chief demand oh the resources of the rubber industry. 

 Everybodj knew that automobiles and motor trucks would plaj 

 an extremel) important part in modern warfare, but no one 

 could foretell the enormous demand for rubber tires this war 

 has brought about. The tire manufacturers, however, were 

 quick to meet the emergency and there apparently has been no 

 shortage of this commodity that can be attributed directly to the 

 manufactui 



Most of the motor vehicles used in the present war are former 

 pleasure car- of which there was a far greater number than 

 there was of motor trucks when the war broke out. Powerful 

 cars with large tires best answer the purposes of the belligerents 

 and consequently this type of car is found with the armies in 

 far greater numbers than are low powered machines. Some of 

 these automobiles have retained the luxurious bodies they had 

 in times of peace and are used by the general staffs. Others 

 lost their form. and were fitted out with heavy armor, 



rs -till received bodies suitable for the transportation of 

 troops and munitions. The heavy duty imposed upon thenars 

 irar conditions and the fact that reliability is essential has 

 led most of the warring nations to tit those of their automo- 

 biles using pneumatic tires with dual or twin tires on the rear 

 wht 



The transportation of wounded and sick soldier- is perhaps 

 the most important and most extensive service motor cars are 



perform in the present war. Most of these motor ai 

 lances arc provided with heavy pneumatic tires with twin tire- 

 on the rear wheels. The; are required to follow schedules that 

 demand an average speed of about twenty miles an hour, and 

 this, especially on war-worn roads, means an enormous con- 

 sumption of pneumatic tires. 



Motor ambulances are generally provided with seat- for driver 

 and assistant and for a few slightly wounded men. while room 

 is left for the stretchers that bear the more severely wounded. 

 Almost all the motor ambulances carry a first-aid pharmacy. 

 Motorcycles with sidecars attached are also extensively "*ed for 

 ambulance service. These light vehicles are often able to go 

 much nearer to the tiring line than it is possible to take larger 

 machines. Each of these motorcycle ambulances runs on three 

 pneumatic tires and carries two or more spare tires and tubes — 

 as do all the army motors provided with pneumatics. Many of 

 the larger mot have trailers. These increase the 



carrying capacity of the motors per unit; and they also increase 

 tire consumption -wing to the fact that they themselves are 

 equipped with two and sometimes with four tires. 



The German army has even been provided with motor altars 

 or field chapels. These are complete church altars, with all their 

 equipment, mounted on automobiles. These motor altars have 

 pneumatic tires, which enable them to travel rapidly from one 

 place to a I thus multiply the services of the minister 



or priest using thi 



\utoi jhts play a very important part in assist- 



ing nightly movenv operations of troops Vutom 



searchlight-, like automobile wireless stations, are mount' d ' n 



: nil car- equipped with pneumatic tires. Rubber tired auto- 

 irry the anti-aircraft gun-, and even aeroplane- them- 

 selves are transported on motor vehicles with rubber lire-. The 

 full extent of the use of automobile-, motor truck- and rubber 

 tire;, in this war will not be known until the great struggle is 

 over. 



GERMAN CRUDE RUBBER COMPANIES. 



\lnio-t all of the German crude i i mpanies 



have availed themselves of a decree of th< German Confedera- 

 tion Assembly exempting them from the •'•ligation of presenting 

 .ice. nut- and holding general meeting- covering the year 1914. 

 The Sapata Somoa Co., the Cameroon Rubber Co., the East 

 African Plantations Co., and the Bismarck Archipelago I o pre- 

 sented no account- and have held no meeting-. A few ( Jcrman 

 plantation companies, however, have held general meeting- and 

 nted report- to their shareholder-, among them the two 

 mentioned below. 



GERMAN EAST AFRIC V CO. 



This company reported that the outlook for 1^14 was exceed- 

 ing!) bright until the war destroyed all the hope- of the directors. 

 Several of the company's cargoes were -eized at sea by the 

 Allies' ships. Only one cargo of rubber and hemp w.i- aide to 

 reach Naples. That was -cut overland to Germany. The com- 

 pany paid no dividends. 



MEANJA RUUBER PLANTATION CO. 



The Meanja company. Berlin and the Cameroon-, stated that 

 on November 14 all the German employees on the company's 

 plantations were seized by the British and French forces, to- 

 gether with two-thirds of the 1914 crop. The Imperial Colonial 

 Secretary had promised to indemnify the company for its losses. 

 X dividend was paid by this company, which for 1913 paid a 

 cash dividend ( f 5 per cent. 



DEVELOPMENT OF RUBBER PLANTATIONS ON THE EAST COAST OF 

 SUMATRA. 



A report published by the Chamber of Commerce of Medan, 

 Sumatra, states that on January 1, 1915, the total area under 

 Hevea in the districts of the east coast of Sumatra amounted 

 to 245.000 acres, of which 55.000 were producing. In 1902 the 

 area planted in Hevea in these districts amounted to 435 acres;, 

 in 1905. there were 5.110 acres: in 1910, 73,826 acres, and by 

 1914. 245.000 acres on the east coast of Sumatra were planted in 

 Hcz-ea. The following table shows the kinds and quantities of 

 crude rubber exported from the east coast of Sumatra during 

 1913 and 1914. also the increase or decrease in these exports: 



-t- = Increase. 

 1913. 1914. — = Decrease. 



.• founds 6,561,687 10.672,996 +4.111.309 



• . other 981,455 839,978 — 141.477 



Wild rubber 30.153 22,433 — 7.720 



Total 7.573.295 11.535.407 +3.962.112 



Xo statistics are at present available regarding the destination 

 of the above exports, but the following table shows the destina- 

 tion, quantities, increase and decrease of crude rubber exports 

 from the port of Bilah, east coast of Sumatra, during the years 



1913 and 1914. 



-+- — Increase. 



To 1913. — = Decrease. 



Holland ;«»,!.< 1.001.863 ( 'S5.74r — 76.746 



England 3,743,181 5,531,813 +1,788,632 



Cermanv 61,470 59,731 — 2.767 



gium 266.310 150.341 — 115.969 



United States 130.753 7S2.030 + 651.277 



France 17,653 26.050 + S.397 



Total 5.221,230 7,535,712 +2,314,482 



In a recent issue the "Times of Ceylon" comments on a 

 form of rubber stealing that has become serious in certain 

 producing districts, the trees being tapped over night and 

 the latex carried away, as many as 500 trees sometimes being 

 illicitly tapped in a single night. 



