THE WAIKATO BREWERY AND BONE MILL.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 934, 18 June 1878, Page 2

THE WAIKATO BREWERY AND BONE MILL.

Thebe have been considerable improvements made of late to the above premises, and a new bnsiness altogether has been added to the establishment and to the Waikato. For the convenince of crushing malt, the proprietor—Mr William Oumming found it necessary to substitute a steam engine, instead of depending as heretofore on a windmill, which—situated on the slope of the river bank, and from the shape of the rising hills on the oppo-' ■lte side—was very erratic in its movements, and useless except when the wind came from a particular direction. Mr Oumming had, therefore, erected an engine of nominally three hovae power, which was more than sufficient for the purpose, and it struck him that the Avaste power might be utilised in other directions. There was a good opening in Waikato for a bone mill, and, the engine room and malt-house having been enlarged, a bone-crushing plant was provided and is now in frdl work. A supply of bones was advertised for and obtained, and wo understand that orders for crushed bone, fine bone-dust, and bone-flour—sufficient to keep the mill busy for many months—have been received. Indeed, all that is needed to make the enterprise a profitable and permanent one is a regular supply of bones. Those are bought at the mill in small and lai'ge quantities, at the rate of .■£■ l per ton, and many boys in the district, when the bones were first advertised for, and bones could still bo picked up on every vacant allotment in the township, brought from five to ten shillings' worth each, day after day, to the mill for sale. In other parts of Waikato, however, there must be large quantities of bones, which could be' collected, and would well repay the trouble. At first it was found necessary to pass the bones several times through tho mill —■ to break them down to the reqired fineness, but a " digester," which looks like a vertically placed boiler, and which receives the steam from the boiler of the engine alongside, has been lately put in use, and the bones, after a certain amount of steaming, are cracked more easily, and with less wear and tear to the machinery. After the steamed bones have been placed in the copper, and passed through the revolving wheels, they pass into an inclined circular perforated iron tube or riddle, which keeps continually turning round. The first or upper portion of this riddle is perforated, so as only to allow the fine dust or meal to pass through the middle portion parts with the ordinary small bone dust, and the lower third of the riddle lets out the coarser stuff, while the unbroken or partly broken lumps, I which require crushing again, pass on till they fall through the lower end of the cylender. All that is wanted, as we have said, is a regular supply of bones for the other districts to make the bone crushing mill at Hamilton a most useful institution to the district, where settlers could procure a genuine article less the cost of carriage from Auckland. We noticed also that Mr Oumming is having a firewood table erected with circular saw, which will be worked, by a belt from the engine rocm; but it is not conton plated, we" believe, to enter into the cut wood business until the iron rails, which are now on the ground, shall have been laid and a tramway constructed, by which, with a lift worked from the engine-room, wood or any other goods landed at the river side may be taken cheaply and expeditiously up the hill, or river bank, to the level ground above on which the premises are situated. The brewery itself is a very complete one. Like many others built on the slope of a hill, each story is approachable from the surface ground—is indeed a ground floor. The lowest is used as a cellar, and is capable of holding a much larger stock than Wai- I kato requirements Avill for some time J demand. On the second floor is the bot- ■

tling department, and a patent cooler which receive* the beer from the large open cooler in the third storey, over head, and from which it passes into two large fermenting vats, capable of holding seven hogsheads each, the bottoms of which can be; tapped in the cellar below. The fourth or upper storey is where the brewing itself is c'anied on, and is Rupplied with water from a never-failing spring in the hill above. Here is the mash tun, capable of holding seven hogsheads, and a 500gallon copper wort boiler. The whole machinery is very complete, and every convenience of water and steam laid on—pipes from the engine-room even communicating with the coopering department, where the casks are placed in position and a volume of steam injected into them. The brewing has again of late been placed under the management of Mr Wallmitt, a gentleman whose name is sufficient guarantee of a good brow, and since his return to the Waikato brewery he has shown that his hand has not lost it cunning