Canterbury Industry

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31119, 23 July 1966, Page 13

Canterbury Industry

and Blair, manufacturing stationers, was bought "... in order to preserve some of the most important contracts held by the company and also to foster and extend trade connexions in the North Island . . .” as the company’s minute books puts it. Lyon and Blair’s two-storey! wooiden building in Lambton; Quay was demolished in 1896, i and a new building was com-! pleted the following year, but was destroyed by fire 10 years later. The present Wellington building was opened in 1908. London Office In 1894 Whitcombe and Tombs opened a London office, and 10 years later a branch was opened in Melbourne to help meet the increasing demand for the company’s publications. As booksellers, the company served the young New Zealand’s growing number of schools and students, and from G. H. Whitcombe’s realisation that overseas textbooks were not always suitable for New Zealand conditions came the first publications of the company. Today Whitcombe and Tombs is New Zealand’s largest firm of book-printers and publishers, and a person; writing a book can have all further processes, including retail sale, carried out by the firm: sub-editing, publishing, printing, binding, and distributing. After the first few years of the company’s history Mr Tombs, because of poor health, did not take an active part in the business. Mr George Whitcombe had a large family, and several of his sons joined the firm. The eldest, Mr B. E. H. Whitcombe, became general manager, and on his father’s death in 1917 became managing director. New Branches Mr B. E. H. Whitcombe retired as chairman of the [board of directors in 1962, ;and died the following year. IHe was succeeded by Mr L. |D. Cotterill. Since 1916 branches of the i company have been opened j at Auckland. Invercargill, j Timaru. Lower Hutt, Hamilton, Rotorua, Hastings and Nelson. The company now employs about 1200, and in addition to its various retail shops has fully-equipped printing works at Christchurch, Auckland Wellington and Dunedin, and a packaging factory at Invercargill.

The Christchurch factory is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, and handles work from all parts of New Zealand. At almost any time there are dozens of books in the process of being produced, at various stages from typesetting through to binding and packing. In addition to the printing and binding of books the! Christchurch factory does all: types of printing in both; colour and black and white,! and produces large amounts! of packaging. Large Factory The Christchurch factory i employs about 300 persons and covers a vast area. The visitor’s first impression is of the huge stacks of paper, both printed and unprinted, awaiting further processing, while in the packaging department there are huge stacks of corrugated cardboard cartons, lying flat. The factory uses hundreds of tons of paper and card every month, and there are dozens of printing presses, guillotines and other machines. At all times there is work of every kind being done: I school exercise books are being produced, their covers colour-printed; desk and wall calendars in both colour and black and white are being printed; books are being set in type, printed and bound; diaries for the next year are in production; and packaging for all types of proc rets, from small biscuit packets to huge cartons for dozens of pairs of boots, is being printed, cut, slotted, bundled, dispatched. Under One Roof In addition to printing and cutting, the firm designs packaging for clients. A typical example was a client who wanted a package for a broom: Whitcombe’s carton design staff planned the shape of a suitable container, the art department supplied colour “roughs” of various i designs for the client's consideration. Once one was [chosen drawings were made, plates produced, and the cartons printed on one of the firm’s many multi-colour presses.

The firm prides itself that all such work is done under the one roof, from design through to production and despatch.