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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20475, 29 January 1930, Page 19

1840_

ASSOCIATED with the progress of Auckland from the early days, the firm of L. D. Nathan & Co. Ltd. stands pre-eminently in the foreground as one of the commercial landmarks of this City. The founder, the late Mr. David Nathan, was already established m Kuasell, Bay of Islands, when Governor Hobson, in 1840, proclaimed the Colony a British possession, removing to" Auckland in the following year, when the seat of Government was transferred, and the firm has been intimately associated with every trade development which has since taken place. The site of the Company's first warehouse in Shortland Street was purchased at the first sale of sections, and upon it was erected a cottage in which the present chairman and his brother were born. Conditions of trade at that time were naturally very primitive and communication was limited

.1930

to the irregular sailings of cutters and other amall vessels radiating from Auckland. The business commenced in a small way, like most businesses in a new country, beginning with the importation and sale of small of drapery, fancy goods' and general merchandise, which often took six months to arrive by sailing vessels from England. To-day it is a very rare thing for a vessel to reach this port without a long Hat of goods carrying the L.D.N, mark, whether it be from England, Camida, United States, India, Ceylon, Singapore or Japan, to say nothing of Australia, the South Sea Islands and the various ports in the Dominion. At various times the firm has held the agency for many of the largest shipping lines, and to-day some of the largest vessels trading between the Dominion and the United Kingdom enter the harr bour to the agency of the Company.