A. AND T. BURT

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4806, 8 November 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

A. AND T. BURT

A PROGRESSIVE NEW ZEALAND FIRM. The Wellington business of the firm of A. and T. Burt. Limited, engineers, ironmouldcrs, etc., like that of the head-quarters of the firm in Dunedin, progresses very rapidly—so .. rapidly that it has been found necessary to transfer the Wellington branch into new and more extensive promises. The building in Courtenay place erected to the order of A. and T. Burt having now been completed, the business of the Wellington branch has been installed therein. This is a suitable buiming, of two stories in tho front portion, with a frontage of 72 feet to Courtenay place by a depth of 42 feet, the depth of the section being 132 feet. Tho ground floor is devoted to the shop and a spacious show-room, and to office accommodation, part of tho space having been cut off for a cartway leading to the back of the building, where there is a largo store, 80 feet long by 20 feet wide, supplied with a travelling came, and used for tho storing of pipes and heavy goods. The first floor is laid out as one largo room, divided for the storing of the firm’s extensive and varied stock. The new building, of which Mr Wm. Turnbull was the architect, is so constructed that the foundations will ho able to carry a third story should r this be added at some future time. Tho front is surmounted by a lettered grill bearing the name of tho firm, and running the whole length of the parapet ; tho letters, which are on a large and striking scale, are in wire netting, this materia! having been chosen because of the reduced wind resistance.

The firm of A. and T. Burt, Limited, is one of the most enterprising and, successful in the colony. There is a far cry from its first office in Wellington to tho large and spacious building which it now occupies in Courtenay place, for this first office was a diminutive gabled structure near the Theatre Royal, apparently of> one room; In this moddst way tho Wellington branch was established in 1895 by the late Mr Simpkins, Later on , the shop in Manners street was opened, but with the steady growth of the business, ooihddently with tho prosperity of *Wellington, th.s place was soon found to be too small, and hence tho firm has built the new premises in Courtenay place; and under tho direction of Mr Robt. Johnson, the Wellington manager, the business is increasing by leaps and bounds. A. and T. Burt are mainly manufacturers, though they import goods also; and their works in Dunoaiu form' one of tho principal industries in that city. The business began in a very small way in 1862, when tho brothers, Messrs Alexander and Thomas Burt, opened a shop as plumbers and gasfitters. In tho same year tilings so “boomed” in Dunedin with the discovery of the goldfields that an enormous impetus was given to the building trade in consequence, and the brothers had to extend their operations. They took several krgo contracts for the Dunedin Gas Company, amongst others that for the lighting of the Exhibition Buildings in- 1865. They also secured contracts for the laying of the mains and service pipes for the Dunedin water supply, and later on performed a similar task, in tho borough of South Dunediu, manufacturing in this instance in their'own shops tho whole of the material required, with the exception of the oastiron mains, which were imported. They have supplied plant for public services to various municipalities throughout New Zealand.' The plant for tho Masterton, gasworks was wholly supplied by Messrs A. and T. Burt, and was erected by, their own engineer, and at Westport they supplied and erected the. whole works, and moreover, fitted up most of tho public buildings and. shops with the necessary pipes and fittings. In 1866 the firm imported mar chinery which would enable brass and copper work to bo undertaken, and likewise engaged coppersmiths, brassmoulders and finishers from Glasgow. . Messrs A. and T. Burt were thus in a position to take in hand every description of marine work arid, the manufacture of brewing and 5 * distilling plants, Their works in Castle street, Dunedin, cover an extensive area of ground, and every class of ironmoulding and plumbers’ and engineers’ brass work, dairying and mining plant, plumbers’ material, and tho manufacture of gas and water fittings, lift and force pumps, sanitary appliances, lead and oompo. pipes, and all kinds of lead, copper, and brass goods, is carried on there. There are 350 employees in the firm’s business in Dunedin. The machinery used is of the most up-to-date character, and specimens of the excellent work turned out by Messrs A. and T. Burt are to be foundin every, part of this country. Those concerned in the dairy industry will learn with interest that the firm devotes a great deal of attention to the manufacture of dairying plant, and has fulfilled many such orders. One of the most interesting features of the workshops in Dunedin is the plant used for largo brass eastings, where the church and fire bolls are cast, for winch the firm is noted. It is truly said that A. andT. Burt’s bells are ringing all over New Zealand, and that some have found their way to other colonies. .The largo bell weighing 9cwt. cast by them for the Now Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, was purchased for a chnrch at Grenfell, New South Wales. A completo modem plant; capable of electroplating with brass, copper, nickel, silver, or gold, is also part of the machinery in. the Dunedin works. In addition to plating their own manufactures, A. and T. Burt do a large trade m re-plating old goods, their claim being that they are able to do this work so well that the goods will bo equal to new articles. The Wellington house is the distributing centre for the North Island; and, as has been said, the business in this part of the: colony as well as in the South is steadily increasing.