ELTHAM BACON FACTORY

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 17 May 1912, Page 5

ELTHAM BACON FACTORY

A PROGRESSIVE INDUSTRY.

Under present conditions an indistive D ai ry Factories have rendere* their shareholders a valuable service ia caking over and controlling the Eltham Bacon Factory The suppliers of hS tL°t cX?r ies, can n™rest »«^3' SfL™ thT ?™ Vrod? ce wfll Return to them the highest market value; that there is no possibility of a corner iv Jigs, for instance, being rung on to them. The establishment 0 of the bacoa factory has put that element of risk out of court and it has established a firm paying, price. If only for the latter consideration alone, the directors of the two faetones concerned have acted prunnw y' + T he baC uo, n faCtory at is now a thoroughly well-established institution controlled by a committee selected irom the- Mangatoki and Eltham Co-operative Dairy Companies, with Mr J. Marx, senr., as, ehaxnnan, and lie together with Mr Forsyth, general manager of fche Eltham Dairy Company act as aa executive. The buildings, and appliances are all on modern lines and Mr Butcher (manager) and Mr Taylor (secretary), appear to have a good grasp of and control? *ver t&y working details of the establishment. The capacity of the buildings is well m advance of present requirements—a very wise precaution, and tiae freezing chambers and cool stores have been- constructed with the utmost care and with the very best matenals^ such as heart of totara, where timber was required. The two freezing chambers are 20 x 18 and 2$ x 28, with a capacity of upwards of a thousand pigs each and the cool store is a fin© room of 40 x 4Ct The hams, siefes, etc are here'v-ery carefully sorted and packed and every care- taken to ensure the best quality article for the market Every pig killed is carefully examined by a Government inspector and not a single carcase passes into the curing rooms witikmt his certificate or impressupon it. The smoking rooms are conveniently and 3olidly constructed, and when the hams emerge- from them they are placed in an artificial drying chamber, where an electric fan draws a current of hot air through and' around; them. On the first floor is a capacious grain store, 93 x 40, wliere- a large quantity of pigfeed may Be stored, but so designed iftat,, shouldf the1 output of the factory demand it, it can Be transformed into additional freezing chambers. Tite present freezing machines are driven by oil engines, but two electric motors are at present being- installed, one 37-h.p. and one 18-h.p., and these will be suppliM'with cwrent from the Eltham Dairy Company's turbines, situated aboil t half a mile distant.

The buildings cost over £4000 to construct; and are well-thought-out and designed for their purpose. When the electric motors displace tlie present oil engines it will be a model factory and a distinct credit to Mr Marx and those associated witli liim.

As before mentioned, there is capacity- for dealing with a great many more pigs than the factory is at present handling, and if" the dairy farmers study their own interests, ft should be but a Tittle time before the output very materially increases.