CAPTURING THE GERMAN DYE SECRETS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1918, Page 7

CAPTURING THE GERMAN DYE SECRETS.

MORE ABOUT THE BRITISH "DISCOVERY." CREA T SENSATION IN LONDON ' The capture of the German dye secrets (as reported -briefly by cablegram a week ago) has created a great sensation in manufacturing and business circles. One of the moving spirios ia the Swiss investigations (says, the Times) states that Germany guarded, the processes more closely than a::y English trade secret, with the possiblo exception of Sheffield steel. Lest the Swiss plan should fail, inquirers, aided by the Government, carried on. several investigations elsewhere simultaneously. Conclusive tests have been reads 'ay Mr. Rowe, of the Manchester School of Technology, who is an eminent dye chemist, and formerly worked in the Badische works. The discoveries include a secret "apple green," one ot the nosl valuable known dyes. The holders of the secrets hi.ve resisted tempting cifoi's to form a monopoly, and intend to offer the formulae to the Government fo.: immediate use in the existing factories. Varices dyes now selling r.t from""£2000 to £2400 a ton cost before the war from £SO to £7O. ■Mr. Rowe interviewed, said that the tests of fie: apple-green solved as the of t.ii- Swios purchases of other formulae. English dye;nai;crs were previously familiar with some 01 the Ger man procc-sss:, but the new recipes contained guaranteed descriptions of tne very dyestuft's produced largely 311 tSe Continental works. It would be a m'stake to expect large and immediate results from the discoveries, except for war work, as manufacturers will be unable at present to make the fullest, use of them owing i.o the scarcity of chemical experts and skilled workmen. A representative of British Dyes, Limited, states that the company previously possessed a thousand alleged German recipes. Hiadmits that they represent camouflage, at whidi Germans are, adepts. FIGHTING THE GERMAN COMBINE. With a capital of £11.000,000 and cash deposits in New York of £10,000,000 the seven leading Geiman aniline cl. "i factories organised in 1011} a gigantic trust with the objects of regaining German supremacy in the yorld markets after the war (says the Berne correspondent of The World). Their plans, long and carefully prepared, included the gaining of eventual control of the Swiss and Dutch chemical industries, which would give Germany nearly DO per cent, of the total output of the world. Three of the manufactories in the new trust have a capital each of £2,700,000, namely, the Baden Aniline and Soda Works (the secret formulae of which are now in the hinds 01 Britain), the Elberfeld Color Worns and the Ho'ehsc Colin Works. The other four members we: —Leopold Cussella, capital £1,500,000; the Aniline Manufacturing Co.. £1.000,000; Welertcr Meer, £400,000; and Kaile and Co., £300,000. The Brtden worKs reported net profits for I'Slo of nearly £l.000,000, and the Hoechst Co. of just undei £BOO,OOO. "Each paid a dividend of 20 iper cent., besides adding very large sums to their reserves. The endeavors of the Allies' Governments (especially England) and the chemical industries of neutral lands (particularly Switzerland) to capture German foreign markets have aroused considerable apprehension in Germany. All Germany's highly organised and comprehensive experimental and lesearch work in synthetical combinations, carried out by hundreds of chemists and experts, bas stopped. On the other hand, the neutral;-, and Allies have been developing their npw industries, and have not only sought to discover new.combinations,but have also succeeded in modifying international fashions to meet their temporarily restricted capacity of production. Keenly alive to these dangers, the German manufacturers 'had long been preparing the organisation of the combine, which included some new features. It had been arranged that full details, of every speciality hitherto nude only in individual factories should be communicated to all the rest, and the same.applied to each new discovery as soon as it was iaada. Then, too, every dye-stuff would be produced simultaneously in at least two,works. Protected by very high tariffs. German mavuaV/.'ture-s would have heen able to change 'jiicb prices at home f.s would ofl'«ct their losses in dumping goods abroad, by w:iic.li they hoped to slide the new competition. At present Germany's most serious c.ompetitor is the Swiss chemical industry, a highly developed organisation doi.ig cent. of the world's trade. Germany, has bee;: endeavoring to cripple her Swiss rivals bv holding "bae!: coal, and has also been planning to get control of the much cnu'.l'er Dutch chemical industry. When war broke out German dye manufacturers owned immense stocks of goods abroad, especiallv in America and China. These were sold at fantastically high prices, and, necording to Swiss estimates, £10.000,000 were realised. This immense capital, it was intended, should be put to buying the chemical raw materials which Germany must have immediately after the war. The tyust anticipated opposition, and it was fullv aware of the high tariff projects and all the other schemes by which the Allies and neutrals proposed to offset the threatened dumping of German goods in their territories.