HOME OF GOOD CANDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 165, 14 July 1928, Page 12

HOME OF GOOD CANDY.

L. HEARD'S BIG FACTORY AT PARNELL. Heard's candies are known all over Auckland, and much further afield, and a visit to the big modern factory in Ruskin Street, Parnell, appropriately termed the "Home of Good Candies," reveals a hive of organised industry housed in a modern hygienic factory, where over 100 employees work under ideal conditions.

Each week over 20 tons of candy is made and sent off to all parts of * the Dominion and the South Pacific islands, a large wholesale and retail trade having been built up by Mr. L. Heard in the 15 years since he first started the business in a small way. ~By having a thorough practical knowledge of the work, and strict attention to business, Mr. Heard has succeeded in building up a trade of which he can be justly proud, giving as it does constant work to so many young Aucklanders.

Outside the actual hands employed in the factory, work is provided for many others in the manufacture of tins, labels, boxes of all kinds, and other containers, which are all manufactured in the city, Mr. Heard's belief being that by supporting local industry he can help materially to relieve the present unemployment, not only in Auckland, but throughout New Zealand. If this principle were adopted ii» an businesses, at would bring about a return to the former prosperity which New Zealand lias known. It is necessary for the firm to import a great amount of raw material, such as cocoa beans, coeoabutter, etc., which cannot be produced in this country. Another good feature of this, business is that as many raw materials as can be obtained there are purchased in England. This assists in the reciprocity of trade between the Homeland and New Zealand, an object which should be kept in mind when we realise to what extent New Zealand depends on England as a market for our primary products. A visit to the big modern concrete structure at the top of the Parnell Rise where the work of making the great variety of chocolates and other goods dear to the heart of youngsters and older folk, too. is very interesting.

On the top floor is tire boiling room, where all hard-boiled candy is made. One is impressed with the spaciousness of it, aud, above all, by its cleanliness. Heard's boiled candy is held in high repute, and the products certainly looked very tempting. One machine alone produces a ton of this candy each day. On the same floor is the caramel room, where caramels with all manner of flavours are made. Here also cleanliness and orderliness is the keynote, and Heard's caramels and toffee de luxe speak for themse hips. Next is the starch and paste room, where jubes, chocolate centres and licorice of all sorts are in the process of making. The next floor to visit is the chocolate dipping room, where the most up-to-date methods are used. On the ground floor is installed all the heavy machinery that makes the chocolate from the bean. Punning off this room is a box room, which is really a self-contained factory. Piled high are stacks of cardboard boxes, hundreds of which are used every day. i

Oil the ground floor the boiler house, adjoining the four-storey factory, workshops, storeroom and offices are situated. At the back of the building is the case-making department. Hero men are continuously employed making cases, in which the candy is shipped to its various destinations.

With a view to the further expansion of the business. Mr. Hoard has acquired land adjacent to present factory, so that when the time comes he will have plenty of room to increase his factory.

One of the outstanding exhibits at the Winter Show is Mr. Heard's -tall, which is alive with interest, and is an index of the conditions and clas< of work carried on in the factory. Wrapping machines for totVee are operating all day long, and uniformed girls l;o about their duties as they do in the factory. The success of the products undoubtedly lies in the. way they are manufactured, and an inspection of the factory and the general conditions under which the candy is made convinces one that good machinery, good working conditions and a generally good atmosphere are rewarded by excellence of quality.