New Zealand Tobacco Company's Factory. (From the Auckland Star.) May 24.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 52, 31 May 1884, Page 3

New Zealand Tobacco Company's Factory. (From the Auckland Star. ) May 24.

A reporter from this office paid a casual visit yesterday afternoon to the New Zealand Tobacco Company's Factory, en the Beach Road, for the purpose of ascertaining how operations were progressing. He found the place scrupulously clean, all the machinery that nas yet come to hand in position, and all the preparations t complete for the manufacture of cigars. The manager (Mr Vollbracht) courteously received our representative, and explained to him the various processes in the preparation of the fragrant weed for the smoking community. A brief statement of these may prove interesting to our readers. After the leaves are received from the growers, they are sorted and stripped of the midrib. With the aid of a modification of the syringe called " a sprinkler," they aro then saturted with a solution compounded for the purpose of imparting to them the agreeable flavour which smokers hold in such high regard. After receiving this treatment the leaves are arranged in square stacks, covered over with blankets, and left to complete the curing process, which usually extends over a fortnight. They are next sorted, thoroughly dried, and afterwards stretched by means of an apparatus specially designed for the purpose. The cigar is then rolled and placed in moulds which give ita symmetrical shape, after which skilled workmen take it and deftly put on the outer coat, the pointed end being fastened with pure and specially imported Havana gum, and the smoking end being cut by means of a small hand machine. The formed cigars are then replaced in moulds, and the seare put into presses which render them compact, shapely and firm. These presses can turn out 5,000 cigars per I diem. Then the cigars are packed in boxes | for the market, and having undergone further compression in this state, they are ready for the shop. At present only cigars are manufactured, and anyone who has smoked the local article will feel no apprehension or doubt as to its fitness to sustain competition on level terms with the imported articlo. The visitors at the Auckland Club have had the privilege of testing thef-e cigar, and wish for nothing better, while the Governor last Thursday expressed himself delighted with the success that had been achieved in the growth of a superfine quality of leaf, and in its production in tirst-rate style for the markets of the world. Various kinds of cigars are prepared from the best Havana to the ordinary weed. Arrangements have been made for the manufacture of the several varieties of smoking tobacco, cut and uncut, snuff and cigarettes, specially prepared paper for the latter being now on its way from Paris, whilst a large shipment of proper cigarboxes aro now afloat from America. Small cases, linen bags and packages have already arrived for the making up of the tobacco in the most approved American style. Fourteen hands are now in active work, and the foreman and twelve more cigar-makers are expected from Sydney early next week, when the complement will be made up to 35 hands by the engagement of 9 or 10 boys and girls. The Company have embarked upon the industry with a determination to succeed, and they have the means to keep that determination up to the sticking-point. They have a capital of £20,000 to work upon, a directorate of influential and enterprising men, and in Mr August Vollbracht a working manager of great energy^ and twenty-three years' practical experience. He was born at Dusseldorf , upon the Rhine, where he served his apprenticeship in a tobacco factory, and for 20 years since then he has been actively engaged in the trade in New York State, U.S. The best proof, however, of his high qualifications tor the position he now holds lies in the work he has already done. Under his direction the Company have imported large quantities ot the several varieties of tobacco seed, viz. : Havana, Sumatra, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky, the supply of Havana alone being sufficient for the planting of 1,000 aci*es. Settlers who undertake, by written bond, to sell their productof leaf to the Company at thespecified rate, and whose properties are approved by the manager, are supplied with the necessary seed gratis, as well as printed instructions how to proceed with its culture. No less than 113 farmers located throughout Nelson, Wellington, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, as well as in all parts of this province from Poverty Bay in the South to Mongonui in the North, have already entered into these contracts. Even the Maoris of the King Country have availed themselves of the privilege, and have sent in leaves of a highly satisfactory kind. Mr James Mason, of Parnell, seems to be facile primeps in the growth of superior tobacco. The leaf he sends in is simply superb in appearance, colour, texture, and aroma. Waiwera, Tauranga, and Opotiki furnish leaf of admirable flavour, and a very mild and agreeable variety comes from Poverty Bay. Mongonui, Mangare, and Onehunga also show up to advantage. In fact, the samples one and all attest indubitably the adaptability in soil and climate of the North Island of New Zealand and tho northern portion of Nelson for the successful growth of the tobacco plant. The Company will probably have a quantity of cigars passed through the Customs j Bond next week, and as they are in a posi- 1 tion to sell 50 per cent, below the price of the imported article, they are almost sure \ to take speedy possession of the local j market, and to extend their custom and: repute throughout the whole Australasian group. We cordially wish them success.