76 
1920 with the formation of the Research Association of British 
Rubber Manufacturers which was organised with assistance from 
the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The 
Association does not take the place of the scientific staffs at works, 
but supplements their activities. Its primary function is to under- 
take fundamental investigations into the utilization of rubber for 
which the factory laboratory has frequently neither the time nor 
the facilities, and to disseminate scientific and technical data and 
information regarding the treatment of rubber, and apparatus for 
'aboratory and factory control. 
Research 
Association 
of British 
Rubber 
Manu- 
facturers. 
137. The problems already dealt with in the laboratories of the 
Association cover a wide range of general interest to all sections of 
the industry. In addition a Library and Information Bureau has 
been developed in which the information in scientific and technical 
journals bearing on rubber is classified and indexed. The abstracts 
so obtained form the basis of the ‘‘ Summary of Current 
Literature >’ which is issued monthly to members. The organiza: 
fon of a section dealing with trade and commercial intelligence of 
interest to the rubber industry was contemplated but is at present 
in abeyance. Some 300 university graduates in science are now 
employed in the various branches of the rubber industry in the 
United Kingdom and the Association focus much of their activities 
to attracting the attention of manufacturers to the services which 
trained scientists can render. 
138. The Association is organised on a voluntary basis. In 
accordance with general practice the grants made by the Depart- 
ment of Scientific and Industrial Research have decreased; in 1925 
they were £2,000; in 1928 they were £800. It is estimated that, 
excluding the cable manufacturers, the firms who are members 
of the Association utilise about 70 per cent. of the raw rubber 
absorbed by industry in Great Britain and represent about 70 per 
cent. of the capital invested in the industry. Considerable 
difficulty has been experienced in arriving at a basis for the assess- 
ment of contributions. The wide range of products covered by the 
rubber industry, and the variation in the proportion of rubber 
used in manufacturing different articles rendered difficult assess- 
ments based on the value of output, or of capital employed in the 
industry. A large measure of agreement was obtained in 1929 to 
the imposition by statute of a levy at the rate of 1/25 of a penny 
a Ib. on rubber used in manufacture in the United Kingdom. 
If this measure had been passed into law the Research Associa. 
tion would have received in 1929 an income of some £15,000. 
The pressure of Parliamentary business, however, prevented its 
consideration. Steps are being taken to finance the Association 
by voluntary subscriptions supplemented by departmental grant.