AN ENTERPRISING FIRM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12551, 3 January 1903, Page 10

AN ENTERPRISING FIRM.

MESSRS STEWART DAWSON & CO The following extracts are • taken frc notices in the Dunedin and Brisbane dai and weekly press in reference to Mes: Stewart Dawson and Co.'s now establis ments just opened in those cities:— . ... . , . Anyono who has seen th( establishment in Dunedin, just opened, w readily understand in what way it is. distinct acquisition io this city. Tl magnificenco of the shop is such as mil attract a large custom. , , . . . It speaks more eloquent than can any written description. . , r . . . It is an art by which tl finer senses are appealed to. ',>■'! ■ . At present Messrs Stewa Dawson and Co. have eight great hous scattered throughout Australasia, and tl business progress made by them during 11 last three years has been simply phen mcnal. • . , . , . Tho goods are offered i such prices as must give tho firm a poworfi influence in the trade in Dunedin ar country districts. , . . . . Wherever Messrs Stcwa Dawson and Co. have opened the publ have flocked in. ..... The. taste shown in tl selection of their wares, the quality i same, anil the delicate art shown in the display have had much to with their succcs But Ihere is something els besides: Messrs Stewart Dawson and 0 have an enormous capital behind them, an are thus enabled to offer many advantagi mutually in favour of buyer and deller. To adequately describ Messrs Stewart Dawson and Co.'s nc premises at the corner of Queen an Edward streets, Brisbane, would strip circus bill of its adjectives, and then i would be very tamely dcs6ribcd. To begi with, tho interior fittings and deenratior cost over £3000 before even a silver colla stud was put. into it, and now all tho 1 spacious windows and cases arc filled wit choice specimens of all that constitutes th jewellers' art. This firm ought to be pit scntod with a medal in recognition of th voto of confidence they have passed in u at a time when we arc (old wo arc goin to the dogs fast and furio:i«iy. As if by enchantment thi palatial establishment has sprung int being. t . » . « All the jewellery, silverware watches, etc., displayed by the firm is o the very latest, 'specially sent out by thei head house in Hatton Garden, London. ..... With Messrs Stewart .Daw son and Co. there is no middleman t< intercept any of the benefits which shoulc jointly be distributed between buyer an'< seller. "; • . . i • The prices, plainly marked lell their tempting story.' ..... For about a quarter of » century Messrs Stewart Dawson and Co.'.' namo has been a household word throughnut Australasia; it jiwt about covers this period since they first opened in Sydney, ivhcro their magnificent business premise; in George street, at corner of Strand, iorms, one of the most conspicuous landnarks in the city. . . > . . In New Zealand, entirely new premises have also been built, fitted and >pcncd on the finest business cornet in Wellington, and also in High street, ]hristehureh; ■ ..'.-. In Westralia the firm oceu)ios a commanding corner site at the Juneion of Hay and Barrack streets, Perth. ..... In Auckland Messrs' Stewart Dawson and Co. have been successfully sstablished 18 years. ..... Tn Melbourne mention may ic made that alongside of their present iremises Messrs Stewart Dawson and Co. lave secured the finest silo in Australasia, onsisting. of eight shops and 24 offices, iluated on ihe corner of Collins and Swanton streets. At an early dale these will ie reconstructed and occupied by the firm.

(From the Sydney Press, December. 1902.) , . , ■ Just at present Messrs Stewart Dawson and Co.'s palatial treasure-store is the centre of attraction of many thousand?, both from city and country. . • . . t)f all Hie business-houses in Sydney few have such a wide or far-reach-ing connection, and none enjoys n greater measure of popular respect and confidence. .... The great windows are studded with silver, gold, and jewels, the collective value of which might represent the price of a King's ransom. Flashing gems glint and scintillate'amid the dazzling light radiated from the burnished surfaces of precious metals. Opals, diamonds,' pearls, emeralds, rubies, turquoises, sapphires, and others of what may be termed the, aristocracy of jewels, may here be seen, worked by dainty craftsmanship into an endless variety of neat and novel designs. Stan and pendants, tiaras and necklets, brooches and bracelets —the smaller articles in somo instances costing, but, a ,fcw shillings, the most valuable running perhaps to many hundreds of pounds—are displayed to the admiring gaze of the multitudes which throng (his busy and faahionable quarter of the city. But though rh© firm's shop rivals the glories of Aladdin's Cave, in the beauty of its contents, and the stock of 'gems and articles of personal adornment is a truly magnificent one, there is widely-diversified range of choice among articles, each and every oue excellently, adapted for presentation purposes, which are useful, as well as beautiful. Ladies desirous of choosing a gift for (heir male friends may find in an assortment of silver-mounted walking-sticks, silver shaving sets, matchboxes, cigar oases, cigar, holders and cutters, pencil cases, hair brushes, or ink-stands, something to suit their requirements. If they do not there yet remain hundreds of other articles, novel and useful. Gentlemen\luive choice "between gold or silver-mounted purses, glove boxes, manicure sets, hand mirrors, pretty cut-glass bottles for toilet table, jewel-cases, photo frames, pin and comb trays, trinket boxes, and a thousand other articles calculated to gladden the female heart. There are, in addition, the many articles of jewellery that are regularly worn by either sex, such as rings, watches, etc., and articles for the adornment of the table, in silver or plated ware from the unobtrusive serviette ring I to the imposing candelabra or magnificent i flower arid fruit-holding centrepiece. There j are also many other .articles—so many that j to. enumerate them all would require the space, not of a paragraph, but of a volume of no 6ma!l size. So the task must be bandoned—regretfully, for the subject ■ is a pleasant- one. Be it sufficient to remark that to no place can a more profitable visit be paid by those in search of gifts to remind lovers, relatives, or friends of Christmas good wishes than to any of Messrs SteWart Dawson arid- Co.'s establishments.;

! THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE CHANNEL: IN REPLY TO MR C. NAPIER BELL. 10 TOE EDITOU. Sin,—lii your piper of the 25th insf. there appears a somewhat discursive letter , from Mr C. Napier Bell referring to one ot mine kindly inserted by yen on the Isth u1t0.,-and now- I crave the further indulgence of the insertion iu your columns of tho following reply. My ; lottcr-wa's'a short resume of the history of the.:endeavours made to find a suitable sohemo fcr the improvement of the. channel betwrcn the Kaik jetty and Harrington, point, and'was written at'a timewhenHt might be considered'that the'discussion upon the subject of cross v. longitudinal walls was practically closed by the decision of the Government engineer in 'favour cf the latter; but Mr Bell has reopened it. in an endeavour-to show how superior the rejected is to the accented, and that dire consequences will follow upon the carrying, out of (he longitudinal wall. Mr Bell's letter contributes nothing of such value to the discussion as will be likely to disturb'! the decision! and especially ho fails in' an effor.t to show any successful work carried out within,- say. the last 50 years or so upon tidal rivers or estuaries in a'liy wav similar to tho conditions of tho locality abovo referred to. by engineers'cf good position in the profession where the system advocated by him lias.' been followed. Ho mats general slalemoiils with regard'to works in France. Belgium, fiermany. and America, where, he says, groins have been employed in tidal rivers, and where, according to his 'knowlodge, they have not been objected to.' This evidence is highly negative. Some definite statement as to' the exact locality and the natural circumstances would have enabled us to judgo ns.to whether or not these cases can be accepted as precedents applicable to our own requirements; hut, notwithstanding tint I requested him some years ago to furnish that information, there is a? yet no satisfiiclmy response. Tho nioper' inference to be drawn from this is 'very obvious. His refcrenccj to the use cf groins unon either the i\ile at Cairo, or some indefinite locality' on the Mississippi, are about as relevant to I ho'subject as would he references to some work, upon the Upper Clullia, or any other titleless liver.whero the current is constantly floiniig i;i the one direction. ■' Mrjßoll roiteratcK his belief in the expediency: of constructing his groins partly of day and partly of stone, nntwilhslnndimr'that both tho Government engineer and llie present ciurincer to the Harbour Board arc at one with me in a preference for .stone liirmwhoiit. His programme was to fetch clay lifted from-sore." place hi.-her un tlio harbour by" Dredge W. and to■ denosit it upon Iho. sites cf the groins, and t|, cn (o covor.it up with slnncs, evidently regardless of the fact, hat his iiniwrmost groin could not be reached at, all by that vessel, and his next one only on the top of high water: and that,his other two where they could be touched would bo in such depths 'of water and exnesed to such intensity of current ns would make the experiment a hopeless faiinte. A further part of lh o scheme was to carry dredging., from the upper harbour deposit them between the K roi„ s , mu \ ,) ,' secure a fairly.uniform bank and current i, hose parts. AH | lis i» brmrtif,,] ;„ „,"„ " Here, again he ,as faded to consider a| that is involved m the limits p„t lo . „ movements of the'dredge by its drat-Hf of water. The deposit from it where get lietwcntlw groms at all,, could only form a bank in close proximity to tho channel and, withnnt some rotniriin? work, would be apt.to'sh,, into it , jj fa , N scarcely object-to this view of the subject when he isrcuMndrd that i„ , a report lo the ™tZ, Krt V" April. 1898." te points ?■ <rZ C n S ° f • S, " !l ! Profcclivn work in rontof thehays.n, the , lpprr Mmm if dredgings. wero deposited- in them' Tito construction of men a• wall' wbtild lie'the rcahsation of my longitudinal wall, hut only after, tho ■useless expenditure of many thousands of pounds upon the cross walls' Your correspondent not unnaturally kikes a pessimistic view, of tho future operations'- ; of the Harbour Board now that it is alxiut' , to carry out a schem'v of work's different from that .-recommended by him. He foresee,? an enormous scour in' front and alongi ! aide, of .the; advancing stono wall, and no doubt if that be carried out in the manner ! which he would adopt his gloomy forecast . might be. achieved. AH alon*. in nty advo- , cacy of .the. longitudinal wall, I have expressed'myself as favourable to a method ; of at once extending a layer of stone over , Hie whole length .•,„<) bottom breadth of , the wall, winch would offer little opposition j to: the .current,/while it would gradually deflect it outwards, and the undermining scour.-would be very mild. Another layer' - would follow,>.hd so on,. by degrees,: Wy! rising, abrupt opposition \ to the tidal flow. By adopting this methqd in-tarrying:out, the training" works"towards' 1 he outer,bar, I scoured t h a t n le Soollr nn( i ; the:su!w|denc,o.'nf tho stone work, even wlien ] CXPQsedHoViiitejiso currents-and-heavy wave:- -j

;, force, were very moderate. Had' that work ~ been earned out to the full height as it | went along, the result would have, been a ■ much larger expenditure of stone and the stoppage of the work', when the board's . funds became exhausted, at a point far short . of- what it reached to. and with a. result , upon the bar very small compared to what ■ -?, s „ e ffect «l- It is true that a con- ; smerable length'of the outer part is not up to the design.*! height, but it was much , better to have a lower wall reaching to t near the bar than a high wall terminating ~ at a remote distance from it. As a pre- . venlive of scour Mr 801 l suggests mattresses : .of tomes, but: I. submit that the abovo , method, demonstrated by - ,- experience- as i being effectual, is much superior and les,3 . costly. I may safely assert that of nibble > ■ work carried out in recent times upon' sandy i bottoms only a very small nrooortion has . mattress work as a foundation." In almost all places it would be a most extravagant ; 'method. Mr 801 l is good enough to say that had , I, instead of giving '• themes," made experiments with models, as Mr O'Connor did, I would know that groins projecting from the bank act on the flowing current in the same way as a wall does, except that the current makes a slight inward curve between the ends of the groins, but the main body of the. flowing stream is not affected by the inward curves," It is curious that. Mr U l.nmior made no mention of that experiment in his report to the. board, butat anyrato ho could not hare had his belief in groins very strongly established V those .rials, else he'would scarcely have said that lie could not recommend the disallowance of my proposals, or make a recommendation to refer the matter to Sir John Coode. If the result showed as Mr Bell reports, then there must have been something wrong cither m the construction of the model or in the manipulation of the experiment, for the action of the two systems- of works is. very difforcnt-so different, indeed, that on at least three important rivers in Great Britain ;thi> longitudinal wall has been Placed after it was seen that groins erected m the early days of river imorovement wero having bad effects imon the navigation channel by a deepening at those spots where it was narrowed by the projecting spur, and a shoaling in the intervals between the groins owing to the greater width causing a reduced current, thereby allowing deposit. Hie action of a continuous wall may be approximated by groins if those are placed very doso together, but corlainlv not at the distances apart recommended by Mr 801 l The multiplication of these, however, to that extent means an aggregate length r I cost „" ulcl > '" <*coss of what a longituciuin wall would require, and thus the chief point in which Mr O'Connor considered that groins wero better than the other system disappears. Numberless cxiscrimoiils with models cannot nullity the lessons of expertenco derived from facts as they have actually occurred. While grateful to Mr Bell lor his -intercut in me, I intend to-adhere to what has been my uniform practice -ii herto, and that Ins been to mako myself inlly acquainted with all the principal facts connected with tho locality I have to'deal with: to examino as to what can best be obtained in suitable material within a. reasonable d.stanco; to learn the.nature and capabilities of plant available for tho work, and then to apply to the acquired nfoimalion the principles governing the host works of a nature similar to what lias to ho iindcrteken. By adhering to that twT • n S aWe t0 ndviso ««e Harbour Board cgli years before Mr Bell, that nefc^'T ltrn « a permabo ~ U % nt tllis PI«W w'ould worl •li t 'l! ,t tl,o > st ""to''"' for tho cine nl Cl , ho .^°' l «l i rt rock procurable « f,ll !s ° tO ,-«P»M '<* ''Ifferept times viU, he V C «f " f M ? B " U ' S in connection •ce,rd l r m> \ "'I' 1 othor civeumsta'ncea SS,S' S h Mr Bell'sees r. J te"lj '" " r l m "! t, " lt «>«• can ha oi cinmiei is estibhshed. but I ouhmir it mb vk b „ n r' iSe to espec I r P »L SC 'r ne f° this, eW, wU?i " Vm *™* ««* tlio various clanne 2 V n° crortC(l in »• "»* «* existed wit „ nt a Previous time t nuitc K ed 1 c ; n ou i7 n r ture nn( t pth Such irfivL,? °" B - ~ a "y vessel afloat, obtained C\w\T™ onsil >' "»ve been ina Profession;, n^l?^'^"*