The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1873.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 7, 8 January 1873, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1873.

Inland Communication. — The General Committee will meet at the Grand Jury Room, this evening, at half-past seveD, for the purpose of receiving the report of the Sub-Committee.

Forestry. — We are informed that the Foresters of Nelson intend holding the anniversary of Court Robin Hood on the Anniversary of tbe Province. An energetic committee has been appointed, and we may reasonably look forward to a good day's sport.

Local Industry .—We yesterday paid a visit to the newly-erected workshops on the Port road, of Messrs. N. Edwards & Co., merchants and shipowners of this lowd, and were agreeably surprised to find that Nelson could'boast of an establishment so capacious, and so replete with every convenience for carrying on in all their variety the works required by the smart little fleet of boats tbat sail -from our port under the flag of the Anchor Line of Steam Packets. The building, which is of corrugated iron, is 125 feet in "iength, by 25 feet deep. On entering the centre door, the visitor finds himself in a large, airy compartment, 70ft by 25ft, which is used as the general workshop, and contains two forges, at which, at the time of our visit, a number of men were employed in repairing some slight damages sustained by the iron portion of the paddle wheels of tbe steamer Wallace in her recent trip up the Wairau Eiver. In this portion of the building there are to be found most of the requisites for the ordinary blacksmith's work necessary in such an establishment, and to these, we were informed, there is shortly to be added an eight-horse power steam engine, which will work a five-cwt. steam hammer that has been ordered from Melbourne; as well as the lathes, and fans for the blasts of thß various furnaces. At the southern end of the building is the turning department, where is to be found a handy little fourhorse power engine, at present employed in driving a boring machine, and two lathes, the larger of which, technically termed a twelve-inch screw-cutting lathe, is one of Whitworth's best, of the size of which some idea may be formed when we state that it weighs 7 tons 7 cwt. Over this room is a capacious loft, which is used as a sort of spare room in which all odd carpentery jobs, &c, are performed. At the northern end is the foundery, 25ft x 25ft,

which is not yet completed in all its ■ details, but will be so shortly, the furnace being already erected. The neatness and order that prevail throughout the whole establishment, which has been constructed and is under the supervision of Mr. Alexander Brown, the superintendent engineer to the firm, cannot fail to strike the visitor, and its importance as a local industry may be estimated by the fact that no lees than thirty, hands have been kept regularly at work for several months past, during which time an important alteration has been made to the steamer Murray, whose length has been increased by 16 feet. The steamers at present owned by this enterprising firm, and which provide work for the men employed in their workshops, are -five in number, namely, the Kennedy, of 125 tons, the Charles Edward, of 89 tons, the Lyttelton, of 86 tons, the Murray, of 85 tons, and,

last though not least, the smart little boat

Wallace, of 57 tons, the latest addition to a fleet, the equal of which is not owned by

any other private firm in New Zealand. In addition to these, there sails under the same flag the ketch Ocean Bird, and we hope in the course of a few months to be able to notice that there has been got ready for sea the Hera, the hull of which was lately towed up from Port Underwood, and which is to be converted into a three-masted schooner, to be placed in the

Mauritius trade. We cannot conclude this

notice without congratulating Mr Brown, . under whose control,'as w,e have already said, the whole -of the works are placed, on the excellence of his arrangements, the order and discipline- that are.maintained throughout the establishment, and the

successful-manner in which rnaoy important alterations* and repairs have been effected in the steamers on which he has at various times been called upon to

operate.