3oi 



we have seen it during the past twelve months with the metal frame 

 commencing to take the place of the older-tashioned 'rikisha wheel 

 of wood and iron, and the introduction of rubber tyres to car- 

 riages is making slight, but perceptible, progress. But it is in 

 London, Paris, and other capitals that the use of rubber tyres for 

 carriages, cabs, and motors shows such continuous expansion. 

 Taking a hansom cab as an instance, its wheels thus fitted absorb 

 20 lbs. of rubber, and the life of a tyre being about six months — ■ 

 that is the period for which the manufacturer guarantees it — we find 

 that 40 lbs. of rubber per cab is thus used annually. It may be 

 thought that the discarded tyre can be worked up again into yet 

 another by the manufacturers, but this is not so. No one has yet 

 solved the secret of devulcanization, the makers will pay only \d, 

 per lb. for such used rubber and it is then fit only to be ground up 

 mixed with matrix rubber, and worked into soles for rubber shoes, 

 squeegees, door mats, and other such articles requiring no special 

 qualities. No advance is made in electricity, but rubber is requir- 

 ed to aid it, the installation of every dynamo is dependent upon it, 

 the cycle manufacturer's occupation would be gone if deprived of 

 it, and its introduction in hundreds of articles of every day use is 

 so apparent as to require no comment from us to prove how the 

 use of rubber is advancing. The remarks made on the Hevea bra- 

 ziliensis variety for cultivation will have the attention of our plant- 

 ers, and also the effort made by the writer of the article to induce 

 every care being observed in the collection will not be lost upon 

 them. We believe that this is the first time that reference has 

 been made in print to the rigid specification enforced by Sir A. M. 

 Rendle, on behalf of the British Government, which specification 

 is likely, it is pointed out, to become in a few months the recog- 

 nised standard of good rubber. 



Some Valuable Points. 



The following notes are written by a gentleman at present in 

 the island (Ceylon) who from his long experience in the handling 

 of rubber in all its forms is entitled to be considered somewhat of 

 an authority upon the subject : — 



The continued increase in the price of the raw India-rubber has 

 naturally turned the attention of both planters and manufacturers 

 to the extension of our existing rubber supplies. The ever-increas- 

 ing demand for the manufactured article, its ever-widening field 

 of application, the new and great demand not only for rubber 

 tyres, but also for road vehicles, and the thousand and one applica- 

 tions of the manufactured material for mechanical purposes, had 

 all so increased the demand for the raw gum, that the world's 

 supply barely met the necessities of the demand, consequently the 

 cost of the raw material had advanced to famine prices. Para, the 

 standard brand, had advanced from its normal price, viz., 3s. per 

 lb. to 4^. 6d., an increase that left the manufacturer poor indeed, 

 and the producer rich beyond all telling. This increased demand 

 not only then, but also now, promises to be permanent and to 

 expand still more, rubber cab and cycle tyres have come to stay; 



