A BIG COMPANY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8300, 11 December 1912, Page 1

A BIG COMPANY

DEVELOPING CEMENT DEPOSITS. NEW INDUSTRY FOR WHANGAREI The' first meeting of the board of directors ,of the Dominion Portland Cement Company, Ltd., capital £250,000, was held yesterday at'the company’s registered office, Wellington. Mr S. J. Nathan, of Auckland, occupied the chair. The minimum number of shares having . been over-subscribed, the directors proceeded with the allotment. Four additional! directors word appointed—Messrs Thomas Buxton, M.P. (Temuka), Ro’bert ijlcNab .(Palinerston North),! Voinon Reed ?: M.P. (Bay of Islands), and George Wins tone, merchant (Auckland;, Mr Ernest Hunt, of Wellington.. was appointed secretary, and Mr W. J Wilson, of Warkworth, Auckland, late • works manager of Wilson’s Portland Cement Company, was appointed works manager. Mr Vemon;Reed, on his appointment as chairman of directors, congratulated the company upon its having received the minimum application for shares within three weeks of the issuing of the prospectus. This was most satisfactory, in view of the present position of the money market and the very keen opposition that the company had received from rival cement companies. The bitterness which had been shown by the rival companies must be taken as show ' ing the strong position that the new company must be in when it started to manufacture cement in the Doinin ion. No", stone ■ was left , unturned to bring about the failure of the flotation of the company,. and such keenness must be taken as a clear recognition that the company'possessed considerable natural advantages which would make it a formidable rival in the manufac ture of cement.

The company proposes to operate on cement rock deposits, of which there are sufficient to last for centuries, in Whangarei harbor. It is intended to at once put in hand the erection of plant, with a view to commencing operations within the next eighteen months. The' works will he double the size of 'any existing cement works in the Dominion. Whangarei possesses a well-sheltered, deep-water harbor. The works will' be situated on: the railway, line about five miles from the township of Whangarei, within easy reach of coal supplies. The starting of this new industry will mean the employment of a'large number of men and the distribution of many thousands of pounds in wages yearly. It is proposed to utilise hydro-electric power, supplied by the Whangarei borough from the Wairua Falls, situated some fourteen miles from ; the. works.