477 



is often given to goods prepared in other ways, such as mc ma. and 

 india-rubber balls by painting with or dipping in a rubber solution 

 heavily loaded with pigments. 



ELECTRICAL USE. 



34. Rubber as an insulator of wires for cable use is being 

 rapidly discontinued, owing primarily to the high price of raw 

 rubber. For sea cables rubber has never been much used, gutta 

 percha of course being superior, but land cables carrying telephone 

 wires and which at one time were insulated with rubber are now 

 being largely insulated with dry paper. Heavy cables for electric 

 light supply are demanding for use in their manufacture less and 

 less rubber every year, its place being taken by papier-mache and 

 cellulose pulp. For the flexible wiring containing a single or a few 

 strands of wire, such as are used in houses for electric bells, lights, 

 and telephone communication, rubber is still employed, paper here 

 is inadmissible because it is less flexible and also when exposed to 

 the air becomes damp and an inefficient insulator. The wire is 

 coated with raw unvulcanised rubber by wrapping a narrow strip, 

 cut from thin sheet, round the wire and pressing the adhesive edges 

 together. This is done by a machine which feeds the rubber slip 

 from a spool on to a travelling wire, the pressing together of the 

 edges is done by running the wire coated with the strip through 

 guides and between wheels. Paper when used as an insulator is 

 wound round the wire spirally. The use of rubber for electrical 

 purposes in the form of ebonite fittings is considerable, but a great 

 extension of the electrical application of rubber consequent on any 

 reduction in the price of the raw material must not be expected. 



THE INDIA-RUBBER MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION. 



35. This Association, which was formed seven years ago to 

 promote the interest of the rubber trade and " especially with re- 

 ference to legislation and to difficulties in the general conduct of 

 the business, " is one exclusively of firms possessing india-rubber 

 works, and includes 25 of the india-rubber manufacturing firms of 

 Great Britain. General meetings take place once a month in 

 Manchester, and on June 21st and again on July 20th I attended 

 the meetings and gave addresses on Plantation Rubber and the 

 Progress of Rubber Planting in the East. Samples ol washed 

 plantation rubber and of rubber latex, both from Hevea brazilien- 

 sis, and from Ficus elastica, were shown, and photographs to 

 illustrate modes of tapping and the growth of the trees were e x- 

 hibited and described. This opportunity of meeting the heads and 

 representatives of large manufacturing interests, and ot putting tne 

 problems of rubber cultivation and preparation before them from 

 the planters' point of view, was of the greatest value, and the view > 

 which I had been gradually ascertaining were perfectly confirmed. 

 At the same time, the interest taken in England » 



was stimulated by having the conditions under which that . ork 1. 

 done expounded I should recommend that commun ca ion be 

 established between the United Planters' Association and the AS 



