THE TEMUKA FELLMONGERY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 920, 21 February 1882, Page 3

THE TEMUKA FELLMONGERY.

The chief object of this journal is to point out to its readers, the great advances which might aeoru -, from auch industries, as can be carried ouf profitably in this district With this end in view we have paid a visit, to the Temuka FeUjnqngery, and now mean to give to our readers a description of what we saw there. "We believe that there are few in. the district who have r?ot heard of Messrs McCaskill and Roonev's fellmongery, but it is. probable that there are many who not aware that it is such a thriving or busy concern as 't s. First of aV ir« situation 18 one of the most delightful in New Z3aland. It is situated in tho corner of a 25 acre farm of land which for choice of situation or'quality of soil has to Miperior or few equal in the whole counirv. The farm is divided into two paddocks, has good fences around it and is all laid down in English grass. In one of these paddocks stands a neat cottage in which Mr McCaskill residas, and in which visitors to the Fellmongery are treated hospitably. On he next are the premises where the business is carried on. Tiie fellmongery premised stand on the side o a gentle slope which is fringed by a rapid creek, arched over by weeping ■willows. Here a site for many industries could be found as there is plenty of water power to tnrn machinery, and is within easy distance of the railway station it being not more than three-quarters ; pf a mile away. The first thing that strikes t'»e visitor is the larg« quantity of wool on the ground, made up principally of the wool which was on board the ill-fated Cashmere, when she was wrecked in Timaru, and which was brought out to the Temuka Fellmongery for the purpose of refitting it for shipment to the London market. Of the Cashmere wool 425 bales or £7650 worth are at the Temuka Fellmongery undergoing the necessary process, of classification, scouring, washing 4c, under the supervision of Mr Mar shall who is there as inspector for the Underwriters Association. Mr Marshall, who has had Home experience of the business, assures u£ that he has not seen in New Zealand a place in which the wool coild be so well or so efficiently don" n such a short time as in Messrs McCaskill and Rooney's place, and speaks in glowing terms of the care and attention that is bestowed on it by Mr McCaskill, under whose immediate management the work is carried on. The wool is in excellent condition with the exception of about 50 balps, which has sustained damage, and it will by the time it leaves the fellmongery be in a more marketable condition than before. The wool was in greasy fleeces, in which condition it was intended to be *ent to the English market, where, after having been bought, it would have to be sorted in various classes, and euch class converted to the use for which it is fit, 1 he short wool going to make flannels and the longer wool carpets, etc. No one who has not a knowledge of wool can understand the amount of labor that is attached to if. It is first unpacked and taken into $ house where U is sorted into first,

J second, and third combiDgs, and also into I locks. It is next washed in what are called the washing crates, which consist of four oblong boxes, sunk to a level that enables a constant stream of water to flow through them. In the immediate vicinity of these crates is a 400-gallon tank, which supplies a constant supply of hot water to the scouring vat, where the process of scouring is gone through. The wool is next dried and packe i in new bales, when it is fit for shipment to Loudon. The apparatus for packing is an excellent one, being a brake and pinion press capable of packing 16 bales per day of 8 hours. Besides the Cashmere wool there aie about 35 hales of wool belouging to Messrs McOaskill and Rooney in the place, aud also about 20 bales seemed from the recent fire which occurred at the place. The value of thase 20 bales was about £4OO, but through the five the wool has so much deteriorated ia value that the 20 bales are not worth more than £2OO now. Convenient and well-adapted as tlie arrangements for the treatment of the wool are, the fellmengery department is more so. The sheepskins are 'list steeped in what is known by the name of "dock," which is a pond of water walled on all sides, 30ft long by 12. t broad, ann sft deep, water being let in and out by a sluice at each end. After having been steeping in the dock for 24 hoivis, they are taken into the sweating house—a dark room dug into the slope ot a hillock- and hung from the beams across' it, where they are left till the heat which they generate loosens the wool from the pelt. Six thousand sheepskins can be hung together in thi* room. After having been left in the for thedma'don of time necessary to render the wool easy of separation ficm the pelt, the skins are taken to the polling shop, where the wool is taken off them, and the pelt is transferred into a cold water iank, where they are 'eft for 24 boms. They are next put into the lime vats for another 24 hours, and next sold to the tanner*. Ah hough this industry of Messrs McOaskill and Rouney is snial in comparison to other industries which could profitably be carri d on here, its importance totha district will be re-i'ised, when it is known that theie are at present 15 men at work there. These men must have food and diink and cloiMng, which they, no doubt, obtain in this town, and therefore inasmuch as there are £2O or £3O a week spent by these men, M !ss;-s McOaskill and Rooney who employ them. must be regarded as to the tewn. Messrs McOaskill and Rooney have a branch establishment at Silverstream, in the Mackenzie Couniry, where they employ seven or eight men more, and carry on a large business. This branch is worked by Mr Rooney, while the place we have just described is conducted by Mr McOaskill.