A POTTER'S SECRET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 101, 27 April 1912, Page 17

A POTTER'S SECRET.

■ , MAT BE IN CYPHER DISCOVERED AFTER HIS DEATH. t A romance of industry is connected with the death of Mr Walter F. Martin, who, while on his way to the Royal Institute to give a demonstration of pottery manufacture, was seized with illness, and died a few minutes after admittance to the West London Hospital, Hammersmith. He was one of four brothers who for nearly forty years wore engaged in the making of "Martinware," the name given to the salt-glazed stoneware which is sought after by connoisseurs and museum collectors. The brothers began as potters at Fulham In 1873. and four years later they removed to Sonthall, where nearly all the wonderful work associated with their name has been created and fired. An Interesting circumstance of the partnership was the fact that each brother carried out a definite part of 'the work. Mr Walter Martin combined the arts of potter and chemist, and it was he who discovered the pigments used in the colouring of the Clays.

At present the surviving brothers, it is stated, do not know whether Mr Martin has left behind him the secret of the colouring, or whether it ls x contained in a cypher message which has been found among his papers. All too colouring of the clay was done by him, and unless tne secret is passed on It is feared that the future 'work of the Arm will be considerably handicapped.