WAINGAWA FREEZING WORKS

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 778, 30 March 1910, Page 10

WAINGAWA FREEZING WORKS

' THE SITE QUESTION. Speaking at the meeting of the Wellington Farmers' Meat Company last Thursday, wlien the - motion to abandon ' the - present -sit© fizzled out, the chairman of directors, Mr. O.' C. Cooper, said it had been said that because .the. works were established inland they would not pay. ; This wasa fallacy. Works in the South Island that had been.established; a considerable.- distance, from seaports' li'ad paid well, and had growrt rapidly. He quoted tho Fairfield works as;a case in point,,and also the, works at Tim'aru, from where, before the harbour --works were completed, they had to . send their mutton a distance of one: hundred and six miles to Lyttelton. : .This; proved that the nearer they were;'ableto get "to the base \of. the'supplies the better for the freezing works.' 1 All the advice he had received down south .had been in favour of inland,works. A similar, condition of .things applied' to Australia. .Works ..that had been built' in fattening dis-' tricts had paid; and others had, not. In support of this -he showed plans of solne splendid works .-at 'been constructed right on tho Wharf. They had a'capacity of seven thousand carcasses per day, and everything had been-done to make them a success,- yet jthey were now closedrdo.wn, and'tlie manager, had ;put iii' an - appii- - cation -for. the position, at'the Waiiifawi,: Freezing Works; (Applause.) These' works lvere among some of the finest in the world, and had been established under municipal control, yet they had closed down within eighteen months, afact which speaks'for.itself, in favour of inland.•works? •' Turning to finance, Mr. Cooper stated that the contract prico';of the work was £18,070, which included not only buildings but a . good maiiy necessary fittings; ill fact, very nearly everything. The contract for the machinery had not yet been-let, but. it was estimated that it would cost about £10,000. The total liability of the company,! covering land,- buildings and machinery, would amount to about- £37;--000, against a capital of £38,000, which liad every prospect of being considerably increased. This, of boiirse, siinpIy . covered the freezing' works, which were unquestionably large, and- their holding capacity was much larger than the .'killing capacity. It was the desire of the directors also to establish canning works, but there would bo plenty of time for this before next November.