THE NEW ZEALAND DRUG COMPANY'S EXHIBIT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 935, 31 January 1890, Page 24

THE NEW ZEALAND DRUG COMPANY'S EXHIBIT.

{Ohtyo Daily Times,) Thera are few exhibits in the exhibition that will compare in point of attractiveness with the splendid exhibit made by Messrs Kempfchorne, Prosser and Go-.’s New Zealand Drug Company. The exhibit is contained in seven handsome show cases which are disposed in two bays in the Otago court. It ha 3 attracted a great deal of attention, but the importance of the articles shown can only be realised after close inspection. Some 60 proprietary articles, turned out from the Company’s factory in Stafford-street. arts shown in finished form. All of thesb are admirably got up, and in general appearance are quite equal to anything imported. The leading Hues consist of Perfumery .Flavouring Essences. Fluid Magnesia, Annatto and Cheese Colouring, Table Vinegar, Baking Powder, Cordials, Aerated Beverages, Essence of Renuefc, Seidlitz Powders, Lemonade and GiDger Beer Powders, Knife Polish, Diamond Cement, Disinfecting Powders, Furuitufe Polish, Washing Powders, Skin Paint for removing wool.fjors sheepskins, writing inks q£ *'l Linds, and form a separate department of the factory homeopathic medicines. After inspecting these exhibits, which should be closely inspected by all, and will give an idea that few possess of the extensive ramifications of the Company’s business, a visit was paid by our representative to the factory, where there are to be seen a large plant for vinegar making, and others for the manufacture of fluid magnesia and liquid ammonia (which is largely used in the woollen mills ; drying furnaces for baking pd'wder, Bteam pans for infusion, decoctions and pharmaceutical preparations; stills, aerating machines, and in a separate room all the newest and improved American tin-mak-ing machinery. The Company make all tiieir own tins—round, oblong and square—and also turn out large quantities for outside customers —ooffee and spice merchants, jam makers and others. They have also a plant for making their well-known Zealandia Sheep Dip, from which they can turn out thousands of gallons per day. The boiler and engine room are in the centre of the building, and from this point all the r".rug mills, stampers, shifters and other machinery is driven. Leaving the Stafford-street Factory productions, attention is directed to the products of the Company’s Acid and Chemical Works and Oil Mills at Burnside, which were also visited. The Acid Works at Burnside were opened on the 20tli September, 18S1, but since that time have been considerably enlarged, and the capabilities of output are now equal to the requirements of the Colony. It is worthy of note that the price now charged for acids—nitric, muriatic, and sulphuric at the works is not half the price that these articles commanded before these works were erected, and foreign importations are now almost completely driven out of the market.

In the Chemical Works Department Artificial Manures are the leading articles ; these are shown in handsome show bottles well corked, and consist of Blood Manure, Garden Manure, fine and coarse Bonedust, and Superphosphate of Lime. These manures of the Company, which have the Kiwi Brand, have passed through the trial of years, and are now eagerly sought after from every portion of the Colony, and the demand for the past season was so largo that orders from old and valued customers had to be curtailed through inability to keep pace with the quantities ordered. First prizes for these manures have been secured wherever the goods have been shown since they were first put on the market, and well satisfied customers have not been sparing in their testimonials. The manufacture of Linseed Gil from colonial grown linseed is one of the latest additions to the Company’s productions, and also Oil Cake for cattle feeding. The Company have recently erected a large building adjoining their Chemical Works, Burnside, which is now in full swing of work, with all tho latest machinery and appliances. Some 10,000 gal of Raw and Boiled Oil have already been made for the local market of the highest class, and from the reports that have been received from buyers, and from the demand arising, it is evident that this manufacture is giving great satisfaction. This is a noble industry, and well chosen for the Colony, and we are informed by the manager that if the farmers will grow enough linseed for their requirements, this purely home industry will soo" make and be able to supply all the oil required for the Colony. These industries at Burnside are merely adjuncts to the Company’s business as Wholesale Druggists and Manufacturing Chemists, but they are very substantial adjuncts. The buildings are situated in convenient proximity to the station at Bnrnside, and are also near the Refrigerating Works, from which tho raw material for the manufacture of superphosphates or bone manure, is obtained. Several manufactures are carried on in these premises, and as the collectively and even,separately form an important colonial industry, it will be worth our while to shortly examine some of tho processes that are adopted. Before doing so, however, it may be stated that the works are undoubtedly the most complete of the kind in the Colony. The manufacture of sulphuric acid was the first process that was pointed out to us. The sulphur that is used is imported Sicilian, and, as those who have studied chemistry are aware, is combined with nitre. In the manufacture of suphuric acid, the initial process is the burning of the sulphur on iron “burner plates.’ ’which are enclosed in brickwork, and the fumes are then carried through a aeries of lead chambers through which jetß of steam are injected at various points, the effect being to form what is called “chamber acid.” After being condensed, the acid is conveyed through a lead pipe into the “ supply pan,” from whence it is svphoned into the platinum pan, and the heat from the fire, conoehtrating on this, keeps tho supply pan at boiling heat. The acid, when fully concpe’>a"-d, i- runoff ; nfco a cooler, from which i" ’ - <.• • v.-. - il into jars, ready for the mark t. I'!-.-- p«-noe&o that is employed is that which is known as the continuous process, and the manufac-

timers find themselves able to t'lirn out 16 tons per week. The process of the manufacture of nitric acid and hydrochloric or muriatic arid-, commonly known as spirits of salt, was then explained. The nitre is Grst of all 'put into a retort, the castirou top of which is lined with fire tiles to prevent the fumes from affecting the iron. A charge of acid is run gradually from a large jar into the retort, and the fumes, after being retorted, pass through a series of condensers, each of which is fitted with a tap for drawing off the condensed ottid. Tho manufacture is conducted at night, the charge being put iu during fchb afternoon and drawn iff' the Fdilo wing morniug. A similar pr'Oc'esß is gone through in the manufacture of bydroehlorie acid, the only difference being that the raw material iu this instance is common salt instead of nitrate of soda. The acids are sold in stone jnrs; and it is notewerthy that Messrs Kemptborne, Prosser and Co. find that the jars made at Kensington by Mr J. H. Lambert serve their purpose as well as the imported article. The department that is devoted to the manufacture of manures is a large and important one. The present is the “off” season for manure-making, but during the winter » onths the work is iu full and constant swing. There is not the slightest waste in the manufactures; and the greatest care appears to be taken to producea superior article—a result that has certainly been achieved. The heads and offal of the cattle that are obtained from the refrigerating works are put into “ digesters,” in which they are steamed, and the fat is abstracted from them. The steamed bones are then taken out, and are dried until they are ready ior crushing. The crushing-mill that is employed is one of Carr’s disintegrators, which is a very rapid worker, as many as 809 revolutions per minute being attained. After the bones are crushed the dust is conveyed to an upper floor through an elevator, and is screened, with the object of obtaining a separation of the fine from the coarse, the latter being principally used in the manufacture of superphosphates. The trotters are boiled with loose steam, so as to secure the oil, which is marketed as neatsfoot oil, and the * cues then undergo a further steaming in the digesters. The tallow and “ soup ” from the digesters are blown by steam pressure into a tank, where they are separated. The tallow is next refined to a certain extent in another tank, after which it is cooled and put into casks. The manufacture of acetic acid is one of the most recent branches that the Company have taken up, and the process is very similar to that which is followed iu the manufacture of nitric and muriatic acid. Tho most recent and one of the most interesting manufactures that are carried on at Burnside is that of linseed oil. A large, well lighted, and well ventilated brick building has been erected for the purpose of this manufacture, and here we saw it iu full operation. The linseed, which is at present imported from Calcutta, although the Company hope yet to see it cultivated in this Colony, is conveyed from the top floor through a “ hopper,” by which a “shaker” is fed. It then passes through two sets of rollers in which it is bruised and subjected to a process of crushing from two ponderous revolving crushers, driven by a 10 horso-power engine, each of them weighing about five tons. After it is crashed the seed is heated —there are three heating machines, two of them worked by fire and the other by steam—and then it is removed to the presses, which are driven by hydraulic power. In the presses the oil is squeezed out of the seed, and is run into jars. The seed is baked into cakeß, which form an admirable food for cattle. The oil is elevated into tanks, and before it is put into the drums for sale it is filtered through a very powerful press. Such is, briefly stated, the process of the manufacture of raw oil, of which iu full working swing the Company can turn out as many as 400 gal, equal to five tons of linseed per diem. For the making of boiled linseed oil a very powerful boiler, set in brickwork is used, and the linseed is superheated by steam. The appliances are all of the best kind, and the machinery works almost noiselessly. Hot and cold water are at hand in great abundance, all the water being originally secured through pumps. The excellence of the manufactures is thoroughly well known throughout the Colony, and the manner in which the Company has grappled with the difficulties that have sometimes beset them has evoked the admiration of those who, not being consumers, merely act the part of onlookers. The General Warehouse, in Staffordstreet, is filled with a huge stock of Drugs, Chemicals, Patent Medicines, Perfumery, Druggists’ Sundries, and Fancy Goods, and is rep.esentative of the other general warehouses of the Company at Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland. In Wellington the Company’s building is the largest in that city, and they have recently acquired the Chemical and Acid Works at Westfield, some few miles out of Auckland, formerly belonging to the New Zealand Frozen Meat and Storage Company. It is evident from the energetic manner in which tho concern is handled that the Directors have no misgivings about the future of New Zealand.