CADBURY’S WORKS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 293, 18 December 1901, Page 3

CADBURY’S WORKS.

COCOA AND PHILANTHROPHY

O'y the Rev. J. Berry.)

In my last paper on 11 A (Meat , Manr.ie.det Mission,” I describe-l the < manifold methods bv which the Ch'ircl. . is seeking to uplift the fallen and ; lapsed masses. Tills paper will d-.s- i c'ribc a greater mission, in which a i great industrial enterprise seeks to i prevent the masses from becoming i “ downtrodden and lapsed.” One of these methods seek -to cure, the <•; wr to prevent. I have just visited the cocoa and chocolate industries which bear the name of Cadbury. They are situated at Dournville, about five miles from Birmingham, and cover in one way and another an estate of nearly 400 acres. It. is a curious fact of which I know no explanation, that cocoa production is largely in the hands of Quakers. Rountrees', Fry's, and Cadbury’.s all belong to this denomination. Mr George Cadbury, the only survivor of the original firm of Cadbury Brothers, is between BO and 70 vears of age. Krect, wiry, full of idea’s and energy, he does not look more than forty. He is, I imagine, an advanced Liberal. One of his fundamental principles is that the Lnglish | working classes are bc.intr uy overcrowding. Physical and moral deterioration, lie says ate largely duo to want oi fresh air. sunlight, and wholesome environment, He would, though a large landowner himself, place the bulk of taxation on the land. He would like to get the people of Hngland out of the great cities into the fresh air oi the country. One striking remark he made to me was that ‘‘such charities as the huge Peabody Buildings are really a curse Many of ,lie children who' live in the upper flats rarely play in the open air" The manufacturing industries, lie says, ought to be in the country, and with the workers around them in semi-de-tached villas, each with a good vegetable and flower garden, and plenty oi

"i r : ; '.r :■■ ■ i I .:.cl-,i::.d o:r br.t ' v :ox : i ~ i : kadi .: \ i e f ; 11 :■ ji- I ■. I m ■ hi. . ‘1: I i :: i, i.- .M ,;n ;.. were 1;?;, England would have taken a lone, stride If.raids the mill. im. M. introduction to the “ works " was a> family prayer at 9 a.in. Work was suspended for hall an hour, and 25uu Kiris and women, ail except the forewomen, dressed in white, came into the immense dining-hail. This .service is held three times per week, and conducted by Mr Cadbury himself. The service was simplicity itself. Sanhey’s hymn, leu by a large choir ; a short Scripture reading with a bred comment here and there, and a short braver. The service lasts only ter minutes, but the work is stopped for half an hour, the rest of the time is occupied with the assembly and dismissal of this areal and happy-lookimr crowd. Tins family prayer is a most impressive siuht. “ I regard my work people as I do my children,” said Mr Cadbury to me when I spoke of the service “I think it my duty to have prayer 'with them, as much as with mv owi household. ”

’1 hen i visited the works from which Cadinirv's cocoa goes out to every pan of the world. 1 saw the railway s'idiim in which trucks are packed, unde.- cover, in the factory itself, and sent away in train-loads. There is a saw-mill into which logs enter at one end, and from which they emerge cut into tli n planks, planed, and cut into s Is. ends, and iuls of boxes. This alone would make a good-sized mill. In another room the boxes were made by toils, the nails being driven by ma<hnery, faster than I could count. The girls looked healthy, and the work went on merrily enough. These boxes when made were shot down a slide into another room, to be lined and touted with paper, a girl being stationed at the top of the slide to examine each box. and cast aside anv that were imperfect. The shop in "diic!i the well-known tins are made is tided with men and youths, the tins being shaped, of course, by machinery. One room which interested me greatiy was the artists' room. The artist is a lady, hut she employs other brains besides her own in turning out new and beautiful designs to ornament the fancy boxes. Another interesting room contains the pegs on which 25nu go Is hang their hats and cloaks when they come to wo-k, and here, as everywhere else, order prevailed. Every giti has her own numbered peg, and by an ingenious arrangement the garments when wet aie dried while they I-ang there. The great rooms in which tiic chocolate-making goes on aie all deeply interesting ; but I must not attempt, to describe them, as I want the space foi something hotter. Let it sulliee that all arc well-lighted and ventilated, and everything is heauLit.lv clean. These ivy-clad and beautiful "works” among gardens and flowers and shrubs are as dincrent as lieil iron) heaven, for many of the factories I have seen in England make we shudder as I recall them. Oh ! the horrible mills, some of them in the country, round which dismal and die try *' cottages ” cluster and smoke and muck that disfigure the face of England ! How riiliecent they might lie ti some better motive than lust of gold inspired their owners 1 DINNER HOUR.

T ul .) tlie huge (lining hall, which will scat, 3000, the girls troop for dinner. 'J ,iey cap eat their own food and eat i here if they like, but provision is n. ado for those who do not. The firm •un; a restaurant here. The food is i.ougi. l in wholesale quantities, and retailed at an actual loss. Mr Cadbury is a p eat believer in fruit, and one ( h.iect if that the best fruit in season shall ,ic within reacli of his workpeople Fruit can be bought here <u iets tli;.n half the retail price outside A tariff of the dining-room charges lies before me as I write. I quote a few ol Ur items Milk id per glass ; soda water or lemonade, Id ; tea, coffee, or o. id per large cup ; eggs, lu cash ; puddings, pies, or tarts id ; sau ages. Id each ; ham, corned beef, hughe, Id per plate, bread, per Mice, id. 1 1 would pay me well to feed my family at that restaurant if that vere possible! There is an ol ■ m- ■-■on house on the grounds, sur • ioundici Ly gardens and shrubbery, is 'vim.:; s ul„ can live if their homes c far away, or the moiai surroundings <■' h.:die ait bad. Close to tins is a girl’s recreation ground of several acres, with provision for tennis, croquet, etc., and a handsome pavilion in which they can list, read, or eat them meals. A sub-way connects these grounds with the mills, so that the girls can reach them without loss of time in changing their dresses. A recreation ground for men is across the road, with twelve acres for cricket, etc., a fine swimming bath, and on which a gymnasium is being erected, which aims at lining one of the finest in h.ngand. Another pretty builuing is a boy’s club, with a lending library, reading and chess rooms, etc. A furnished house in another part of the estate is available for a foreign missionary and iiis family who no.id a year's rest ; and .another lovely house is kept open for tired Salvation Army women, and as a convalescent home for sick children. .But the heart of Mr Cadbury is chiefly set upon the mode] village which surrounds these wor„s. I fancy lie regards this as the keystone to the arch. At the opening ol this paper I have stated some of "tl e opinions which Mr Cadbury holds, and which are here embodied.' The object of this village is to provide model workmen’s homes. Three hundred and thirty acres of land have been oelined on a trust which provides for Mr Cadbury’s iueas being carried out in perpetuity. These ideas are Ilia:, no liou.se shall be more than two storevs high ; that eacli house shall have a garden space at least four times larger than that covered by the housw m eveiy garden are fruit trees vegetal le.-. and flowers. '1 here are 3 r, 0 houses in this village already These are bum in semi-detached pans, and in wmi-i and tasteful styles rf architect,,re. 'i liese houses contain and seven rooms, and look more !re Lo•••«•> o, middle-class and prolessiona! me i t... i what is commonly u. rersv-l os “ workmen’s cottages Tbit estate when handed over to Ihe tru .tees was valued at a ! hii.bdi. The rents - f the houses are to be used in perpetuity for building more houses aiid acquiring more property, in which the founder’s principles are to be maintained. These houses are used by others than the workpeople of the firm, and arc in great demand. A railway station is close at hand, ar.d workmen only ray 2d for the return journey to I:inningham. 7’he danse ,n the deed io uie trustees which refers to the sale of intoxicating drink is worth quoting. No house shall be used for such a purpose, except under the following conditions: 1. The unanimous consent of the trustees given in writing. 2. Such consent to limit quantities and hours of sale, etc. 3. The profit to lie used for securing counter attractions to the liquor trade, j. Tiie trustees shall endeavor* in mind the founder's intern..,." f‘iH trilmtion, or consumption o. atlAJ'-a-J

ting liquors shall be entirely suppressed if such suppression does no', in the op.i.ion of the trustees, lead to greater evils. Ihe administi.Jion ot this trust is wholly unseciarian and nou-po'itiral. Tin;' model vi.Uge has ret ..nother : lass The late lr Rioiiard Cadbury spent €50,000 in the erection of ..bout to lovely i,...5h0 iv’s I never saw such houses i o beautiivlly built. Timber of polish.;! oaks, t'l p s, stonework _>•' tie list, all bear wit less to the thoughtful generosity of u.e builder. These houses sm round a Quad rangie of lc."‘iv green grass, with a

pavilion in the centre The residents are not only rent free, but coal an 1 gas are provided, but one condition ci residence is the possession of at icnsr 5s per week of income. They are untended for the respectable and thp'ty among the aged poor. One jirov-.m of the trust'is that the rents of .. number of (.‘per ho■ sen shall pay for tlie up-keen of the almshouses and 1 1 cost of light and lire for ihe tenant - I have not by any menus told all C I learned in mv visit to this cent.; -u cocca and phtlanthr phi . lut ! > readers will ague will; me tiat ; c motives of the Cadtur/s, like t e:r cccoa. are “ absolutely pure —h v Zealand Herald