Provincial Industries.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1628, 6 February 1886, Page 2

Provincial Industries.

(Souther*.! ExcLan^e.)

REID & GRAY'S, DUKEDIN,

In the mind of the m'ddle Inland agriculturist the name of Reid & Qt 'ay is one to conjure with. Above all other firms it is identified . with the progress of Otago, and now has branches m all the more important centres. Like most other native industries Reid & Gray's has risen from humble sources. The,, partners who have conferred their name on the flourishing concern were originally m business m Oainaru, and about IS years ago with their few hands migrated to Dunedin. The restless hand of death has changed the personnel of the firm. A monument to Mr Reid m the Soutnern Cemetery tells how one (Mr Reid) perished at sea, and the other partner at the time of my visit avis absent m the Home Country. B-it the name of the' firm still remains, a:ul is now established beyond fear of change. The firm oo,cupy a large bloclc of groand m Princes I street South, and running right through to Cra*wford-street, which at this point is parallel and adjacent to the Main south line of raUway. 'The front premises are unpretending,, and bear outwardly the digny hue which is indigenous to all ironworks. Those at the rear are of ainbititious design and are of great height, the upper floor being devoted to thft storage of such parts as are imported.. It is, m fact, the warehouse, and on the "round floor is the office. It happened to be a Saturday on which I paid my visit, and among the usual paraphernalia of an office I observed <i young man j checking a great number of small tin boxes. Being of a professionally inqui. sitive turn of mind, I soon gathered that these boxes contained the fortnightly pay of the employes, and that the whole lot .could be paid m a few minutes and j thus leave the coveted Saturday afternoon uncurtailed for pleasure. Having gratified my curiosity as far as a cursory glance at the office would admit, I began my tour under the sponsorship of my cicerone. I was introduced to the blacksmith's shop. Here lurid fires ; gleamed through the smoke. Attendant. . ; imps of darkness, sooty young demons,' ';' truculently, brandished red hot^bolts' which emitted sparks of remonstrance at theui violent treatment. Twelve Vulcan's at as many forges made the air hideous with; the clang of their blows. ■ It needed no great stretch of poetical imagination to conceive this scene the pulse of a coun- '•> trv'g' industry* Every throb of (ihja hearp vibrated to the uttermost limit of settlement, every stroke ot the hammer marked a step m the subjugation of the ■^soil. J On every hand is the march of-im- , provement.. No longer does the smith wearily blow his bellows to mollify the-" metal. An engine specially set apaVt for the purpose sends a current of air from a large fan to each of the fires. It if continuous and strong, and is emblematic, by i|s roaring of the haste of the age. • Noriis it by manual strength alone, that the ductile iron is manipulated. Three steam hammers make, the earth tremble about them, and like Oliver Twistj^without his temerity, ask for more. The din is not favorable to a calm survey of the scene. The visitor is apt to fix his gaze on one^attendant: sprite; and thus lose the .tout\emem6W I v ask ( for a rest and Wt; conducted to the moulding shop.' My" attention is directed m passing to the enormous stock (over 300 tons) of pig iron stored outside waiting to be fed into the ravenous maw • of the furnaces close by. lam informed that one of these is the largest m the Colony, and am m no position to dispute the fact. In this; department there is comparative quie.t. The floor is strewed with curious devices. The parts of a reaper and binder are, when asunder, like a very tough variety of Chinese puzzle. lam shown the new way of making moulds : by means of a metal pattern, and I am shownjt he method of chilling the working. . -Surfaces \o£ castings. The general apk pearance of the . place is grimy. T& walls are black, the floor is black, and if the visitor is not .very careful, ne will be black too. The multiplicity of details is. so great that a writer would have to spend a day m each shop m order to be able to give his readers a tolerable notion ofthework. lam introduced to a'gentle looking machine which will cut you an iron shaving with as little fuss as a tailor would snip off a pattern. It is a trinity, and can perform the three operations of cutting, boring and pointing standards at one blow. I leave this benign monster whose jaws look so tempt* ingly gentle, and next enter the fitting shop. The first thing that strikes -the, visitor is the number of belts. The ceiling is a perfect network of them* The tabled net of mythology had not so many interfacings. But every belt, every band, had injunction. Here is working j a machine for making screws, here another making nuts, here a turning lathe and so on ad lib. The untaught mind refuses to grasp the details, and is left with a hopeless vision of wheels, pulleys, and attendant satellites which haunt it for hours. But the carpenters' shop, is! next to be visited. Here I find labpr saving appliances all around—spokeshaving 'machines, turning machinei, ; .sand-papering machines, and goodness" knows how many more machines, are hungrily devouring wood on every hand and crying to be fed. There are machines Here m which a rough piece ot red gum is placed, and v presto 1 it becomes* tlie ' spoke of a wheel. Another is receiving at one end. long bits of wood, and the other turning 1 out shafts each finished and a counterpart of all the others. Deadly machines these. Each only shows a glistening farigj but its bite is mutilation to the heedless. I was here shown' a new idea m the way of driving belts. Instead of the main belt being, as usual, a broad band of leather or rubber, it was made of ordinary Manilla rope. Five or.< six! parts of this run ih as many grooves ( m [the driving wheel, and a compensa* tdry part runs round a sliding , wheel to allow for tension. Not only' is ifc cheaper but it is safer, ag the breakage of the belt does not by thia " moans involve a shook to the machinery nor danger to the bystander. Descending to the ground I saw m- the finishing shops m the yard a number of implements undergoing their finishing touche* and ornamentation. These included: every article for which the firm is famous, I was somewhat mysteriously allowed , to, glance at something m the way of a' •chaff cutter with elevator which will ho the next novelty presented. I was not, however, furnished with particulars. And now I gladly regained the oompara. tive quiet of the street. By this [time my ( brain was thoroughly confused .with the sights and sounds. I could not re. member details, but was profoundly impressed with the activity of this f human hive. If I shall have s ucceeded m inn* parting some of the interest Ifeltia the work to my readers, I am satisfied.