OUR MANUFACTORIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 3, 18 November 1863, Page 2

OUR MANUFACTORIES.

TUB TANYAHDS OF THE MESSES. IRELAND, mechanics' bay. Many and various, though little known because in most cases carried on in by-plaecs and out of the way corners, the manufactories of the Province of Auckland are yearly growing in importance. Enterprising men, even with t-hc want of many necessary appliances and with disadvantages in working which exists in a young colony, are, while advancing their own prosperity, laying at the same time the foundation of a commerce which will render the Northern portion of this Island at no distant day, not only rich in corn and cattle, in minerals and in timber, but possessed of a reproductive and labor-giving source of stability and wealth. With all the well-calculated drawbacks of an inevitable rupture sooner or later with the native race, such a state of tilings indeed as now actually exists, and with the consequent effect which this knowledge has had upon capitalists, it would be a curious and interesting statement if, in the matter of timber alone, we were able to lay before the reader a table of the number of extensive saw-mills, which have been established, in this province, and the thousands of pounds which have been spent in their machinery and its erection, and invested one way and another in this one branch of industry and wealth. Even in the Thames district, one from its exposed situation that might have been thought of late years ain'tliing but a safe spot for investment, we understand that there arc seven or eight mills representing a capital of over £60,000, an amount of property, and of one kind alone, which few of Auckland's citizens are perhaps aware has been in imminent danger up to the present moment. In Auckland, however, there are many industries, which are quieth', and happily with more safety, being carried 011, and these unknown to many. Amongst them, and one of not the least importance, is the tanning and wool-stapling establishment of the Messrs. Ireland, in Mechanics' Bay. During the last session of the Provincial Council a return of the amounts of compensation demanded by the neighbouring proprietors, in the event of the Domain stream being diverted for the public use, was scut down by the Superintendent, and. the large sum demanded by the Messrs. Ireland seemed to many people, and ourselves among the, number, as ludicrously absurd. A subsequent, aud accidental visit to their premises has dispelled this idea, considering that on the use of this stream depends the practibility of carrying on the extensive works which are even now iu operation. The business is not confined alone to the felimongering and tanning and currying, but embraces that of wool cleaning aud dressing, for all of which purposes a large and continuous supply of water .is necessary ; the mil], too, by which the bark is prepared, some seven or eight tons per week of which are crushed for use r,u the premises, is worked by water power. The barks principally used by the Messrs. Ireland, and of which there appeared to r bc large quantities stored, are those of the towed and the white and black bitch. In England the barks of ma ny trees are used as well as that of the oak—such as the elm, the horse chesnut, the birch, the weeping willow, &c., E.nd it is more than probable that many other trees in the New Zealand, forest, besides the three above mentioned, will ultimately be found to answer this purpose. As this bark realises from five to seven pounds petton in the Auckland market, it will be seen that this one, establishment itself brings into use, as an article of commerce, an otherwise' useless material to the extent of £2,000 a year. From the hide, fresh from the slaughterhouse, to the dressed and well got-up skin fit for the use of the bootmaker or saddler, the different stages of its conversion into leather may be seen. The process is, however, a long one, and both patience and capital are necessary in the carrying on of this particular business, the green hide of to-day requiring as long as from "twelve to eighteen months in its preparation before it passes from the currier's shop to the hands of the mechanic. The longer the process, and the weaker the infusions used in the tan-pits, the more durable is the leather, and the more impervious it is to wet. In some tanj-ards tho process of tanning is pushed through in half tho time by the use of stronger infusions of ooze, as the tannin liquor is called. A double gain accrues to the tanner by this, for not only is his capital turned over twice in the same time, and with nearly the same amount of labour, but where in slowly tanned leather 100 lbs. weight of hido will turn out only about 120 lbs" of leather, where the hide is rapidly tanned.it will turn out afc-least 140 lbs. ' This extra..jveigfit is, however, gained at the expense (if it he consumer, for such leather is not only brittle, but will not exclude water. Good -jleatlu!!- is known by presenting, when cut across a glistening mottle',! appenr.'.'icis and is intliout Avhitestreaks in tins middle. IS o such quick process to. in the establishment to wJWtfi -kv now allude. The usual time, wo' were informed', daring-whtah the hide is Tinder pro-cess, ranging from ten to fifteen months, a space which can he well understood V. the different processes are. explained, the " raising, the " flesh scraping," the change from one tanning pit to another of different strengths of ooze, in each of which, porliaps, tho skin remains from six weeks to two or even three months, tho " drying," " pressing,'' and afterwards the " dressing" which it receives from the curricr ere it becomes a marketable article. In all such stages we were shown tho hides—the large, drying shed over two hundred yards in lengttt contained but few at the time, but in the currier's room were a number of well dressed skins ready for the bootmaker, of excellent- texture, and got up to a color equal to that imported from home. In wool, as well as in hides, a large business is done. The wool is, washed, dried, and sorted,

for which latter processes large and extensive buildings have been erected ; and wo were informed that the work lias been effected at a cost far less than thai which it can be performed in the Southern Provinces, or even in Sydney. At the present time there is less business doing than usual, a large quantity of hides being necessarily cured and stowed away in consequence of the difficulty of procuring hands to carry on the works, partly from the men being required for militia duty, and partly from other causes. There is, however, no ditliculty in seeing in this already well established business the foundation of one of those extensive factories which will, as wo said before, so materially advance this Province by developing resources which other portions of the Colony do not possess in an equal degree. A few years hence, perhaps, and where now in alow range of half hidden wooden buildings a snug trade, unknown to most people, is being quietly established, substantial masonry ,«mt! extensive warehouses and workshops will render the establishments of the Messrs. Ireland as conspicuous as they are now the reverse.