RUGBY ROAD CHEESE FACTORY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 March 1918, Page 3

RUGBY ROAD CHEESE FACTORY.

(Contributed by R.S.). Rome months ago it was related in the columns of the Dailv Xew.s how that lh- suppliers of the Midhirst Dairy Co.'s Rugby road creamery had decided to

sec Co from that company, and joining the Tariki Dairy Company, build a, ciieese factory alongside (heir creamery which, by arrangement, they acquire! from the parent company, together with tb.' freehold of the land on which if stands.

This decision has now been carried out, and a thoroughly up-to-date cheese factory, standing a little to the south of (be qhl creamery, bears testimony to the eo'-fidence of the settlers in' the capabilities of their district and the stability of the foundations on which its -.irosperity depends. The factory is of ferro-concrete throughout, roofed with iron, and is built ill two wings, running north and south and east and west respectively, with their junction on the north west, and is divided into three compartments, the making room, packing room, and curing room, which last contains shelving capable of accommodating from 1500 to 2000 cheeses. In the north-east corne: cf the making room there is a sweotwhty tank to receive the whey from the vats, which is thence pumped to supply the separators in the creamery, where tlie remaining butter-fat. is extracted, and the residue in its turn pumped to tanks on a concrete stand in the yard, from which suppliers take their quota for calf or pig feeding at their farms. The whole of the plant for the new factory was installed by Messrs -J. B. MclCwan and Co., of Xew Plymouth, and includes four 000-gallon vats with all the necessary adjuncts for a factory of that capacity. The requisite power is pr'A ided by (he steam engine, which formerly did the work for the creamery. To give the water supply the required elevation, an octagonal tower in ferroconcrete surmounted by a reservoir has been erected, the lower portion of which provides a commodious bath room foi. the employees. Besides the factory building, a residence for the manager has been built, which at once catches the eye of any pasfer by as it is in a style entirely different to the classical packing cast* architecture of our rural districts, and - though new and bare at present, when its surroundings have become broken in and made homelike it will unquestionably give a pleasing addition to the Piiiebr road corner.

The whole undertaking reflects credit alike on tlie shareholders, the architects (Messrs tPcrcival and Messenger, of Inglewood and Messrs Messenger and Oviffiths, of New Plymouth), and Mr. F. Oravling, under whose supervision the wcrk has been done.