MANY FACTORIES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18571, 22 December 1925, Page 6

MANY FACTORIES.

DEMAND FOR CHEAP POWER. OPPORTUNITIES FOR INVESTOR. South Canterbury offers immense possibilities to the investor. The district ' young and comparatively undeveloped, yet very wealthy; it is well served by railways and excellent roads; it has a fine ' seaport, easily reached from the most .distant' parts of the province; and in addition to the other endowments which go to make it a district of almost un--HmVted potentialities, It has several sources of unlimited electric power. Its total area is 3/265,280 acre s L and its population only 42,650. . The gross ita'l value of ja'nd and improvements is over £22,000;00u: ■ • The chief exports of the district are, •of course, wool, mutton, and wheat; in addition, flour, bran, pollard, potatoes, oats, grass seeds, linseed, clover, turnips, mangolds; and other root crops. The dairying industry is rapidly growing,, and there are now over 26,600 dairy cows in South Canterbury, supporting a number of factories which produce highgrade butter and cheese. A record number of boxes of butter was exported from Timaru last year. Meat freezing and-preserving is one of South Canterbury's chief sources of wealth, and the two big freezing works at Pareora and i S'mithfield produce a large proportion of the frozen mutton, and lamb annually exported fom the Dominion. It is in the field of manufactures, however, that the district has most to offer the investor, for raw materials lying ready, to hand and waiting to be turned to commercial use, arc abundant. Glassware, pottery, soap,.candles, creams and ointments, soft goods, lime and cement, fertilisers, iron and steel ware, tools, and many other important manufactures can -be • developed, with the advent of cbeao electric power. ; Inthis connoxion, it ..is interesting to note that a new industry has recently been established in Timaru by Messrs J. K. Bruce, Ltd., who have installed, in conjunction with,the Dominion Flour Mills,'a biscuit and chocolate factory employing a large number of hands. The factory is a modern structure in brick, covering 15,000 super feet of floor space, and specially, designed to suit the machinery imported from England and America. The plant includes a continuous gas-fired biscuit oven, '6O feet long, which is the only one of its kind operating in the Dominion. The mixing machinery, dough breaks, and cutting machines are of the latest pattern, and, in addition, the company has recently installed one of the best and most expensive wafer machines procurable, with which ice-cream cups, etc., can be made, as well as the standard kind of wafer. The establishment of an industry such as this, and the high favour already won by its products; mark an important step in the commercial progress of the town. Established Industries. It is not generaly realised that South Canterbury maintains nearly 100 factories and workshops of various descriptions, many of which export goods in addition to filling local requirements. There arc four ; large flour mills, one woollen mill, wool-scouring works, several motor-body building workshops, clothing factories, tanneries, sauce and pickle manufactories, implement factories, saddlery and harness workshops, ham and bacon curing factories, brick works, tile and pottery works, five engineering shops, five printing and publishing houses, three sawmilling plants, cabinetmaking shops, a boot and shoe factory, brewing and' malting, boiling-down works, stone-crushing and quarrying, monumental masonry, f ellinongerihg, dyeing, and many others. Tho trawling and fish-curing and freezing industry has grown to considerable proportions during the past few years, and there is now a largo fleet of motor-trawlers with headquarters at Timaru. Business houses arowcll represented, there being Bix banks, fifteen insurance companies, five stock and station agencies, and 17 large firms of.merchants and warehousemen,, with branches inTimaru. On all sides there is agitation throughout' South Canterbury; for the provision of a cheaper arid more reliable supply of eloctric power than that at present available. When the wishes of the consumers and intending consumers are complied with, and.ample current is to be had at a-sufficiently cheap rate to attract outside capital as well as local enterprise, it is certain that the progress I of the district will be greatly accelerated.