MESSRS NELSON BROS.' WORKS AT TOMOANA.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3131, 11 July 1881, Page 2

MESSRS NELSON BROS.' WORKS AT TOMOANA.

(Concluded.)

In our first notice of Messrs Nelson Bros.' Works at Tomoaha, we etated that, though barely completed, they exhibited in their infancy every indication of a vigorous growth, and the power to create several branches of industry in relation to pastoral pursuits. The remark applied to the establishment of a tannery, and to the facilities at the works for the formation, when the proper time arrives, of a department for freezing meat for export. * It must be remembered that not the least—if not the most — important object of the Tomoana Works is the production of the base of the material used in the manufacture of gelatine and of other articles by the Messrs Nelson, of Warwick, in England. The Tomoana Works may, therefore, be regarded as a branch of those in Warwickshire, and as such are capable of utilising enormous quantities of those portions of cattle and sheep which are not consumed in their natural state as human food, and which to a very large extent are now wasted. It is consequently of little or no concern to the Messrs Nelson as to what ultimate use may be made of the carcasses or the animais they slaughter. They are prepared to boil them down for tallow, to sell them as butchers' meat, or, when the time arrjvec, to freeze them for export. The only thing to which they will not lend themselves is to waste. Nothing is lost; every portion of a slaughtered animal is utilised, and it is to this grand feature of their works is due the fact that there is nothing to be found there offensive to the organs of Bight or smell.

We have omitted to state that Tomoana is situated on the railway line twelve and a-half miles from Napier, and one mile and a half from the rising township of Hasting?, and that immediately attached to the works is an estate of one hundred acres of the best land to be found on the far-famed Karamu plains. Necesarily several acres of the ground are occupied by the sheep and cattle yards, the several buildings and shops connected with the works, the offices and workmen's cottages, each of which latter, as we mentioned in our previous notice has its enclosed piece of land for a garden. The remainder of the land is divided into paddocks, two of which, comprising fifteen acres, being reserved for pigs, of which there is a great number of excellent breed. There is alsD a large plantation of youns and thriving trees. Running between the two principal paddocks is a drain which carries off all the washings and waste water from the works. This liquid, as may be imagined, is a r ; ch manure, and with which the grass lands are irrigated at pleasure. With this at command Messrs Nelson's paddocks are in striking contrast to the pastures outside their boundaries. With the refuse from the works some interesting experiments have been made by Mr William Nelson. Oue paddock has been treated with drainage irrigation ; a portion of another paddock received a heavy dressing of the meat and bone from the steam cooking chests after the extraction of all the tallow and gravy; another portion with the meat, which, we should say, after the steaming, is almost dry and quite fibrous; and another patch of land hae been dressed with the bone alone. By Messrs Nelson's Bystem of chopping the

carcasses up into small piecesbeforesteaming for the extraction of the fat, tbe refuse of meat and bone is in an excellent conditiou to be used as a manure. While all the surrounding country has the very yellowish dried-tip appearance natural to the season of the year, and to the absence last autumn of the usual amount of,rain", tba paddock that has "been irrigated with the drainage water is green, and the grass affords a good bite. The portion of the other paddock that has been top-dressed is, however, much euperior, and the aaimals grazing there never leave it. The small piece dressed with bone only shows as yet little or no improvement upon the surrounding country, although doubtless its treatment will in time be of a more valuable and lasting character. The other piece of ground that was dressed with only meat exhibited improvement in a day or two, and with the first shower of rain there was an astonishingly rapid growth of grass. The result of this last experiment goes to show that no more valuable manure could be applied than this refuse meat to all crops where rapid promotion is demanded, as in the case of turnips, which, if not raised quickly, are often ruined by the fly. We think we have now touched upon all the principal features of Messrs. Nelson's works, so far at least as can be "Hone after a short afternoon's visit to Tomoana. It must also be borne in mind that the most interesting of those features are in relation to patented machinery and appliances, of which, did we know anything, it would be manifestly improper to make public. But we cannot close this notice without alluding to the care that the Messrs Nelsou have taken to secure the comfort of the large number of workmen they employ, and to induce in them habits of thrift by allowing a liberal rate of interest on balances of wages due. The majority of the men employed are married and have families, and there will ba few who are engaged there, we imagine, who will care to leave a service in which industry and steadiness are sure to meet with their reward.