MILTON POTTERY WORKS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19066, 11 January 1924, Page 9

MILTON POTTERY WORKS.

A CHEQUERED CAREER. FAILURE OF SEVERAL VENTURES. The exact date of the establishment of pottery works in Milton is difficult to ascertain after the lapse of so many years, but apparently they were in existence m' ; the early seventies. In conversation with Mr George Wilson, who was a member of the Milton Borough Council as long ago as 1867 and who had resided in the town ever since, our representative learned that the works were first started by Mr W. M. White, better known as “Bricky” White. For a time Mr White got supplies of lime from Milburn and burnt it in Milton, and later on he secured a brick kiln, which he utilised for th| manufacture of salt glazed pipes. Subsequently he started to make crockeryware, etc. He got a number of men out from Home to engage in the making of pottery, but he did not always have the material on hand to keep them going, and as a result the works were not a success from a financial point of view. Mr VVhite tried to manufacture line crockeryware, but the expense proved so great that he got into financial difficulties The works were, therefore, closed down, and a number of employees wore thrown into idleness. With a view’ to pnniding employment for them Mr Wilson offered them 'very fair wages for fencing some land, but this was work with which they were not familiar and they were unable to undertake it. Subsequently Mr White started the pottery works at Kensington, where ho did very well before selling out. He then went to Victoria, where he engaged in business, one of his activities being the importation of Camara stone to Melbourne. Eventually he settled down in Melbourne, where he has been engaged for some years in the sale of lines required in connection with the poultry industry. The pottery works were closed down before Mr White left Milton, and for a time Mr Wilson and another man had charge of them. Eventually they were sold to Mr J L. Gillies, who purchased them principally with the object of providing employment for some of the workers. At that lime the land on which the works stood was owned by Bishop Nevill. Mr Wilson is of the opinion that Mr Gillies formed a company to carry on the works but be is not certain about that. Later on a man named Johnston and his son got the works, but they could not make a success of them. Mr Johnston then went to work at Woolston, and liis employer bought the pottery works, but did imt carry on operations for long. At length the industry died out altogether, and the works were pulled down some seven or eight years ago. In July, 1875, a representative of the Bruce Herald visited the works and inspected several specimens of Parian ware executed by Mr B. Bedson, consisting of a pair of earrings, a cross, and a scarf pin.

About this time the prospectus of the New Zealand Pottery Company was pub lished. The capital was to be £30,000 in shares of £2 10s each, of which 800 shares were already paid up, representing

the proportion of the then capital of the company. The provisional directors were Messrs W. A. Murray, M.H.R., Henry Clark, M.P.C., Jas. Goodall, Andrew M‘Laren, George Coorabe, Jas. Elder Brown, Joseph Macbay, K. W. Capstick, J, M. Watson, W. L. Philp, John A. Duthie, George Wilson, Jas. Finch, H. White. John M'Farlane, and Thomas Murray. Tlie manager was Mr John Chetam, and the interim secretary of the company was Mr George Capstick. The objects of the company were to manufacture and sell all kinds of stone, china, printed, painted, and enamel earthenware, also every description of salt glaze stone pipes, chimney tops, sewer pans, fire bricks, tesaela-ted pavements, and telegraph insulators. On Aoril 7, 1877, however, tie land, buildings, and all the machinery for crockery and pipe-making were sold by auction by Mr Mm lague Pym in Dunedin for £SBO, totpurchaser being Mr Robert Wx-son. In commenting on the sale the Bruce herald stated: “There can be no more convincing proof of the present depreciation of property in Milton than the amount at which the pottery works were sold on Saturday, i’he price realised was but little, if anything, in excess of the market value a few montus ago of the freehold of the section upon which the works are built.”