Ormoudville Dairy Factory Has Been Demolished

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 132, 5 June 1937, Page 2

Ormoudville Dairy Factory Has Been Demolished

From Our Own Correspondent ORMONDVILLE, June 4. With tho passing of years, old landnarks are fast disappearing, and before this month is over no visible sign >f what was once the main centre of ocal activity will be left. People in many parts of Hawke’s 3ay will remember the dairy factory vhich has now been demolished and its naterial sold for removal. Many oi the pioneer settlers remember the cavsrn in the hillside, faced with rough dabs, and shelved with the same ma;erial from which Air. and Mrs. Neils Nikolaison sold good butter. By gradual stages, as he could pay for improvements and develop the dairy industry among his neighbours, thi9 modest beginning, led on to a large Drick building equipped with tho most modern machinery, employing a large number of workers, and exporting large quantities of both butter and sheese. From its first beginning as a factory in the 90’s butter was tho main product, as although in 1910 the manufacture of cheese was added, the factory was then a dual plant concern in which both cheese and butter were made, and exported. During this period a Napier merchant bought Ormondville cheese as a gift from himself and his wife to the equipment of one of the Polar explorI ation expeditions. j With the coming of home separation the making of cheese was abandoned,, and the building, which had been put I up for that purpose, was fitted up as a general store from which suppliers could purchase everything they roquired, and send their orders and receive their stores by tho higk-powerod motor lorries which collected their cream. At this period tho ownership was between father and sons, for Air. Niels Nikolaison had taken Messrs. O. H. and C. L. Nikolaison into partnership, tho former managing the factory and the latter the store, which enabled their ' father to give more attention to his farm lands. It was during this period that a laTge brick hostel, to provide accommodation for factory employers, was built. This building still stands, and is occupied as a private dwelling. \ Owing to altered conditions and competition from neighbouring factories, it was decided in 1930 to effect a merger with the Norsewood Co-operative Dairy Association, and this was satisfactorily arranged. The store was continued for :>ne more season, after which it was closed down. In tho 1931 earthquake tho largo brick building which had replaced tho first factory was badly cracked. For this, among other reasons, the hope of many Ormondville people that tho present dairy company might transfer to this centre the business carried on |u Norsewood, four miles from the railway, has not been realised, and to-day that little office, from which so many thousands of pounds were paid out to the farmers, and that large building, once a hive of industry and a source of wealth to the district, are only a wind-swept section, with stacks of material awaiting its removal by those who have purchased it.