RISE OF GREAT FIRM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 133, 17 March 1933, Page 7

RISE OF GREAT FIRM.

"BLANDYS" AT MADEIRA FINGER IN EVERY PIE. A man sitting in a London office helps tq run Madeira—the resort ot thousands of British tourists every year. Madeira belong to Portugal, but it is largely dominated, from a commercial point of .view, by One firm run by an enterprising British family, which makes the bread, prints the newspapers, and owns the chief banß! Iln 1805, during the Napoleonic wars, British troops were occupying Madeira. A private soldier amoiifj them, John Blandy, opened a small store at Funchal, the capital of the island. Soon after this beginning he began shipping wine. By ISoQ shipcoaling was begun. To-day the firm, still run by the Blandys, is by far the largest commer-j cial interest in the island. It is the biggest contributor to the local exchequer. Almost everything there *is i to do in Madeira seems to be done by the Blandys. . As soon as the ship arrives it takes in water—supplied by the Blandys. Thirty years ago the firm spent thousands of pounds in laying a private pure-water supply direct from the hills. 'The water is brought to the ships in lighters, made by the Blandys in their shipyard, the principal one ot Madeira. The chief hotel is Reid's. The Blandys have a financial interest in it. The most important bank, virtually Madeira's Bank of England, belongs to the firm, and helps to finance most of the local trade. It grew ,to its present importance during the post-war boom. The principal industry of Madeira is wine, and Blandys are one of the largest wine .shippers. They send nearly 200,000 gallon's of wine to Europe annually. They have Madeira's biggest ship-coaling business, the coastal trade of the island is mainly in their hands, engaging their three steamers, and they "are big land and house owners. Blandys also founded the largest bakery of Madeira soon after the war. The firm supplies about half the population with bread. Most of the flour used on the island is ground in a mill run by the Blandys. They even own the cliief newspaper! It is printed in Portuguese and English. Mrs Blandv, widow of the original John Blandy's great-grandson, is known as the uncrowned queen of Madeira. She lives one one of the tAvo Blandv estates on the island, and every year "notabilities visiting the island come to pay court to her.