BREWERY DINNER

Chronicle (Levin), 27 November 1946, Page 2

BREWERY DINNER

-O 1 NEW FLANT OF £43,000 Before a very largely-attended meeting in Taihape in connection with the brewery there, the Mayor of Taihape was asked to set in motion plant to the value of £43,000, while the erection of a ne\V brewhouse is under consideration. It was stated that next to the railways the brewery paid the largest wage bill in Taihape. Ihe emergency power installation now nearing completion and to be used by the brewery company as a standby in times of power shortage, is a diesel oil generating unit, consisting of an 88 h.p. engine driving a 52 k.w. generator. The plant is capable of producing 10,000 units of power a week, and, according to information given the company by the borough council, such an output wouid be equivalent to the normal amount of a.c. power used in Taihape, and today taken from the Government lines. Proposing the toast of the brewery at the dinner held at -the Gretna Hotel in the evening, Mr. H. Hartnell, (secretary of the Canteen Board), gave an interesting sum- 1 mary oi uiie hibiory ana grovVon of j the brewery. "The brewery," said Mr. Hartnell, I "was founded m 1908 by the late j Mr. W. J. Coutts, a prominent and ; highly respected citizen of the j town. It was then known as the [ Main Trunk brewery, and as the j name implied, it connned its opera- ! dons laigeiy to Taihape and sur- ! rounding district. After the inidal tc-ething troubles ' inevitable in startmg a new inaustry, Mr. Coutts buiit up a flounshmg business and evencuaiiy sold out in 1927 to the present company. For a rew years the new management carried on in the same way, but gradually extend'ed'their'fiei'd,' and iii 193T eSt'ttbli^h'ed ' x uxaiiuii ij.j. w V.011. x'Toiii oiiat uime on, saies went ahead by leaps and bounds. Soon the capacity of ihe brewery was aevereiy tctxea, and minor extensions and new machinery were mtroduced. These, nov/ever, quiekiy proved madequale ^o cope with the ever mcreasin'g demaud, and m 1938 the oici orewery was scrappea and a handsome new builumg was erected. Even this quickly proved too small, and ever since it was buiit, continuous altcradons, additions ,and extensions liave been gomg on. xcday, with the installation of the new uootling piant, can be taken as die enu oi uiiv epoch, but iroin enilmsiaem 1 have seen today from the people wnu .diould be the best judges— you iolk, the reseliers of Ca.-.cadc — I am quite cerlain we are only celebradng die cnd oi' a cliaptcr, but by 110 means the end of the .Ttory. Among Ihe guests present were Messrs. T. V. Caliiii and B. J. Kelleher (Otaki), Mr. C. Larsen (Levini, Messrs. McCurmae and Lockett (Paekakariki), and Mr. G. Iluilana (Foxton!. An apology for absence was rcceived froui Messrs. W. Bull, LUl., of Levin.