INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 94, 7 May 1937, Page 35 (Supplement)

INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

Meat-Freezing and Orchards . ^ ' HISTORY AND VALUE TO HASTINGS 9 The rapid rise of Hastings was due to many factors. The mckst important of these was the establishment of the Tomoana meat-freesing works shortly after Hastings had become a township. This one factor has had a very great bearing npon the progress of Hastings. As cottages had been erected adjacent to the works for married employees and single men's living-quarters and a large dining-hall for the b#icheIors, practically the whole of the freezingworks employees were eustomers of Hastings tradesmen for most of their requirements. Added to this, rich pasture land wbich surronnded Hastings for miles on &u sides immediately beoame more valuahle as it enabled farmers to grow crops and go in for huying and fattening stook for the local market and also for freezing.

Kear-to Hastings were eetablished several of the best stad farms for the breeding of purebred Bheep, cattle and horses to be found in the North Island. Messrs Watt and Farmer at Longlands, Thonjas Tanner at Endsleigh, Jr N. Williams at. Frimley, Hon. J. D. Onnond at Karamu, and Captain W. E. Russell at Flaxmere all maintained very fine stud flocks and herds rivalling any to be found in any part of the Dominion. Sir Dunald McLean, and later his son, Sir Douglas McLean, at Maraekakaho, for many years held a leading posifion as a breeder of many classes of purebred sfock, while Mr- Thomas Lowry at Okawa, Mr B Cbambers at Havelock North, and Mr W. Donglaa at Te Mahanga were also to the fore a« stud

stock breeders. It will thus be seer that the fertile Heretaunga Plains anc other rich lands adjacent to Hastings were, from the earliest eettlement selected as a nnrsery for thoroughbred .sfock of all desciiptions, and it i« from this part of the province that the animals destined to become the foundation for Hawke's Bay's leading flock' and herds. originally caine. The small farmers and graziers, Messrs * E. D. Collison, the brothers Wellwood, J . Boyle, Struthers and •many others who had small and select studs but were chiefly engaged in cropping and fattening, all of fhese played a» important part in cultivating and developing the land around Hastings and thus providing a feeder for the town. Before the opening of the freezing - wowka at Tomoana the boiling-dow works of Mr Bees Powell Willianw, at Whakatu took most of the snrplus fat sheep, for the tallow was, for export purposes, worth more than the carease in those days. Bnt there were many even then who foresaw that Hastings, from its central situation, its exceedingly rich soil, and its comparative nearness both to local and export markets, was destined to become, and that quickly, a very important town.

Industrial Pioneers Two of the men who thus envisaged the rapid growth of Hastings were Messrs Thomas Tanntr and Jamee Nelson Williams, two names that will ever be assoelated* with the progress of the town and two to whom the present generation owes a very deep debt of gratitude indeed. Quite early in the history of the town, Mr Thomas Tanner sought to introduce new crops for cultivation for the purpose of creating an opening for new industries of a highly proEtabl eharacter. Among these was tobacco-growing. At his own expense, Mr Thomas Tanner brought from America a tobacco expert, Mr Augnst Vollbracht, to reporf upon the possibilities of tobacco-growing upon the Heretaunga Plains. Mr Vollbracht 's report was favourable, and a certain quantity of tobacco seed war planted, a small drying and curing she? was erected, and the experiment of growing tobacco was made. An endeavour was made, with indifferent Ruccess. to iloat a company to extend tobacco-planting operations, but it was so on realised that the project would have to be taken np on a much more comprehensive and thorbughly businesslike scale for the seheme to be a success. The Home market did not want the Kew Zealand leaf, which required special treatment to make it suitable for blending purposes. and the quantity which would be available was altogether too small to make it worth while altering the blending. which was already being done on a very extensive scale with various grades of Amertcan leaf. F&iling in hls atiempt to introduce tobacco-growing as a profitable branch Of intensive farming, Mr Tanner next turned his attenfion to hop-growing, and this for a number of yeaw met with much greater snccess. although, as with the growing of stone fruits, frosts at certain stages of the growth of the hops played havoc with the crops. However, a fairly considerable area of the Riverslea land was planted with hop vines, and an experienced hopg rower, Mr A. Masters, was installed as

manager. The quality of Hastingsgrown hops was high, and in the picking a fairly large number of young women were employed on the very healthy work of liop-pieking, After managing the hop gardens for some yearB, Mr Masters eventually secured them and carried on hop-grow-ing on his own account for some years, until he turned his attention to fruitgrowing and transformed his hop fields into an orchard. Various other schemes for the establishment of new industries in Hastings were introduced by Mr Tanner with indifferent success.

Cutting-Up of Mahora

t Very much greater success attended l the efforts of Mr JameB Nelson Wili liams to create- new industries and in- , duce the cultivation of fresh produets which could be absorbed in those industries. Early in 1899 Mr Williams disposed of a portioh of his Frimley property, situated just on the outskirts of the borough, for cutting-up into small farm allotments for fruit-grow-ing. Thus was the Mahora special settlement born. Its value, and the vaiue of its produets, in increasing the prosperity o£ Hastings can hardly be overestimated. Not content with selling a portion of his property for small farm allotments in this manner, Mr Williams had another large portion of his property planted entirely in peach trees. The extensive nature of this plantation may be gathered from the fact that the Kaiapa Orchard, as it was called, contained sixty rows of peach trees, each row extending for a mile in length, the total thus being sixty miles of peach I trees. This was, at the time, easily the biggest peach orchard in the Southern Hemisphere, and probably one of tbe largest in the world. Mr Williams also started the Frimley canning factory nnder the management of Mr Basil Jones. This factory, established for the purpose of jam-mak-ing, canning and preserving fruits of various kinds, ineluding tomatoes, was, with two exoeptions, the largest in New Zealand, and there were none with

better or more up-to-date equipment The factory was almost completely a sclf-contained unit, having its own tinmaking plant, box-maMng and so on. The Frimley canning factory undoubtedly gave a very great impetus to fruit-growing, and not only found employment at the factory for a large number of hands, but also opened up snch possibilities in fruit-growing as to cause a very large influx of people to Hastings, Havelock North, Mahora, Pakowhai, Twyford and other areas, and orchards sprang up in all directione. So in a very few years the deseription given to the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia, on the day that the Confederate army under General Lee marched into it — "Round abont it orchards sweep, apple and peach trees fruited deep, fair as a garden of the Lord"— might well have been applied to Hastings.

Frimley Closes Dowp For some years the produets of the Frimley canning factory found a ready mnriset in both New Zealai! and Aus-tral-a, but as the latter country had th»n been concentrating i.pon fruitgrowing at Mildura, and in New South Wales and South Auslralia, it soon berame evident that the Australian market could not be retainCd except at a loss. The extension of canning plar.tfc 'elsewhere causea a decision to close down the Frimley factory. This was, and has since been a matter for regret, but the recent establishment of another canning factory should help make good the deficiency. Althongh the closing down of tho canning factory was greatly felt both by the growers and by the lusineis feople of the town, it did not det-.r CJchard sfs from continuing to ircreasj the area in fru-t trees, and the revenae from fruit-growing for the past thirty «r more years has had a markedly beneficial .-ffeci on the progr'jss cf Hastings. Cultivation of this eharacter not only gives employment to many *»orc hands than do most other

branches of farming, but also releaaes money for circulation at much shorter intervals, thus making the circulation more effective in sustaining business at a normal level, The fruit-export trade, foo, has grown to such dimensions of late years that it has been a very important factor in stimulating progress, and "in the amount expended for fruit transport alone has been the means of distributing annually large suras of money.