Pioneers of Industry

NZ Truth, Issue 1080, 12 August 1926, Page 6

Pioneers of Industry

Making A Fortune From CcUe-Brenck; :■■ '■■'■ (By "Truth's" Managing Editor "on Tour.) . ;•■ ; : / •. Thirty-four years ago A. E. Sykes was a aifctle-known chemist at Petone. *■ ' " „. T .-, ■• To-day lie is head of the firm of A. R Sykes and %ns, Ltd., cattle drench manufacturers, with their head office- m, ,JNcw llyniouth and a branch office m Sydney, N.S.W., a firm; tliat.is doing business throughout both New Zealand and the whole .'of -Australia; It was as a lad of eight years that Sykes. came ; to the :D6mmion from Australia, and having served his apprenticeship as" a chemist m Napier he qualified m Wellington. . .... , He quickly secured a job and later, having m the meantime had experience m both the retail and wholesale, lines; he went into business at Petone on his own account. There the opportunity for which he was looking came his way, and he did not let it pass him by. Amongst the cows m the district there was an epidemic, and from a recipe of his own Sykes commenced to mix a cow medicine to check the, epidemic's ravagea. He saw the possibilities •Of his cattle : drench, and determined to move into the cow country, where he thought there should be a demand v for his product. Accordingly he shifted to New Plymouth 31 years ago. . - . . „:. At once he set about to market his remedy m quantities. Instead of writing the label, as he had been m the habit of doing m the past, he had labels and cardboard packets printed, and commenced to sell to the chemists and storekeepers as well as direct to the public. . , His only assistant at this stage was a girl, and consequently the great bulk of the work fell upon his own shoulders.. He had not only tot manufacture the drench himself, but he also had to find a market for his product as well. Gradually he extended his operations, going from New Plymouth to Wanganui, then to "Wellington, later to Auckland and finally to the South Island. Before long he was selling his remedy throughout the Dominion. ■>, v. _ t _" ' Then from Lismore, m the Northern Rivers district, New.bouth Wales, there, came, an order for a number of cases; and this was followed shortly afterwards by an offer from an Australian firm to take over the Australian agency for, the drench and his other cattle remedies^ Sykes saw the opportunity which this offer presented, and he accepted it. That was 20 years ago, and within twelve months he , had decided to commence manufacture m Sydney. "i New: Zealand capital went into- the venture, and Sykes Australian Drench L,td., came into being. About seven persons are employed m the factory there, with a New Zealander m charge, and a similar number figure on the pay-roll of the New Plymouth factory. ■ ' . / Small supplies of the drench, have' been shipped, to England and, Scotland from New Plymouth, whilst* the Australian factory has exported to South Africa. fairly large supplies, and inquiries have been received from other countries as well. Firms m Argentine, Sweden and Denmark have written asking for the agency for their particular country, and to-day the founder of this New Zealand industry is contemplating enlarging the scope of his business so that he may extend his operations to those countries. '