The Empire Packing Company.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5159, 2 March 1888, Page 2

The Empire Packing Company.

One of the sights of Wellington is the huge establishment of Messrs W. nnd G. Turnbulland Co. It is a striking object from the deck of a vessel when approaching the capital city, am! th - stranger is sure to ask what that niu.-sivo brick building is on tho Cnstmnhou.-n-quay. It is the head office, bonded stores, warehouse, and packing establishment of one of the.lnrgestbusiness firms in New Zealand, whoso travellers and representatives are known ad. over Die colony, and whose name is associated with all that is honorable »nd enterprising in commercial circles. It is not, however, with the general business of the firm, but with ono particular branch to which we shall now refer—tho mixing of tens and the re-packing of wholesale purchases iuto parcels for selling retail. This branch is situated on the topmost floor, and hero in different apartments busy crowds of skilled hands are employed making up paper packages of various sizes and all kinds of goods, such as sugar, confectionery, tea, &c, &c. ; tinning up mustard, pepper, and other spices, bottling syrups, salad oils, limejuice, tho whole in assorted sizes, properly labelled, and' ready for the retail dealer. In another room is the tea-taster, Mr F. M. Shortridgo, who, with rows of cups of cooling tea on a ti'blo in front of him, sips but never swallows from each in turn, and with an exquisite sense of flavor distinguishes the merits of each, fixes thoir valuo accordingly, and determines the component part* of the blends. The teas on being marked for blending aro emptied from their chests on to tho floor of another room, whero they aro thoroughly mixed by means of a wooden shovel. Having been blended, Mr Shortridgo again tastes, and having by this means secured as five a flavored beverage as possible, tho tea is then passed on to the packing department, where it is made up into chests and halfchests and into paper packages of various weights. The best known brands are the''Dragon," the "Elephant," "Crescent," aud "Empire," and most excellent teas they are. Messrs Turnbull and Co. import teas from India, China. Ceylon, Java, and more recently from Fiji, and from the judicious blending of the productions of these countries, a tea is produced that cannot he excelled. Proceeding further, but still continuing on tho same level, there is another apartment where coffee, spices, and rico aro being ground, preparatory to being handed to the packers no be mado up iato suitable packages for retail dealers. In another room the tin-smiths are at work manufacturing all kinds of canisters and tins,*from the smallest description of jampot to the large biscuit tin. All the machinery required in tho several departments is worked by water power: the motor is a large cupped-wheel which is driven with tremendous velocity by the enormous pressure of the City water supply. This wheel was designed and patented by Mr G. Bernascoin, of Wellington. Thero is yet another room to -visit—the bottling department where liquids from salad oil to colonial wine, from trewcle to lime-juice, are bottled and labelled. In the inspection of Messrs Turnbull and Co.'s vast establishment, the visitor is struck with the care that is taken, in the first instance, in procuring the very best articles, and next with tho neatness with which the packages are made up, bearing as they do the stamp of genuineness and of excellence.