EARLY DAYS RECALED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 30 July 1924, Page 9

EARLY DAYS RECALED

THE NELSON CLOTH FACTORY

(To the Editor > ,qi r . i am one who had the pleasure ot going ovei the j.ictorv mentioned by your cur respond tut, | E. IVebley, in the Evening Mail of 22nd iusU, bringing old days back to j memory, and many of your reader s'j who lnive sprung up in later years, j would be wondering where this factory j would be. situated. Well, to the best of, mv knowledge it was in Bridge-street. opposite the Queen’s Gardens (then the! Eel Pond), and on. tho site where S. I Kirkpatrick and Co. first- carried on their business as jam manufacturers, etc., for sonic years). The. motive power was derived from an overshot, water-wheel to work the machinery at the cloth mill. To make my little story understood at this juncture, the water entered what was known as Campbell’-s Mill lead, top end of Al-ton-street, near the Dun Mountain Co. wood yard, .then crossing under Nilo-street-and from here onward gradually rose, so by the time Hardy-street was reached the structure would be well up so that vehicles and pedestrians could go underneath comports bly. The icicles seen on a. frosty winter’s morning hanging' from tills miff-roco in all fantastic shapes gave pleasure, to your truly in those days. Matthew Campbell’s flour mill was. supplied by this means, which was situated iri a direct line of Alton-stieet and about three chains back from Hardy-street on a lower level, being a large brick building near by. We also enjoyed hot and cold wa-ter'baths In those) days, also a. swimming bath, proprietor, H. Bnrraclough. So further on the water making a. picturesque lake for swans, grey duck, and other game. The overflow was directed to speed Hie waterwheel mentioned above. The late Edwards Ricketts, many .years skipper of the’ steamer Wairoa was an apprentice at, Webley’s c-lotb factory. Rogorson was the governor icf the gaol, afterwards Henry Clouston, Robert Slmllcrass, and F. W. Severnc. 1 don’t know whatbecame of the weaving machines and other gear, but the. water-wheel v. as purchased by Mr Alex. Drummond, and may still bn,geon at his old homestead near Tapawera, where it did good service fur a- long period in working the chaff cutter and circular saw, -but on the advent of oil engines had to give way for -something more up-to-date. New, Sir, that water-race is a tiling of the past. A portion of tho site may bo seen, an avenue of choice trees and shrubs, thanks to the Nelson Beautifying. Society. Before the Nelson waterworks was an accomplished fact, tho prisoners took their'daily exercise to this source for all requirements in tho way of water. Each pair earned a tub and a bucket . This troupe was known as lodgers from Rogerson’s “hotel.” Now, Sir, away back in tlioie days of ancient history you see we could boast of a flour mill, swimming baths, and cloth factory, whose tweeds have never been surpassed or equalled. Thanking you in anticipation, I am, etc., 11. POLCLAZE. P.S.—The mill closed down about 1870.