MESSRS A. AND T. BURT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21019, 7 May 1930, Page 18

MESSRS A. AND T. BURT.

When one visualises the .extent of -the premises in which the* operations of Messrs A. and T. Burt are carried on today, one finds' it difficult to realise that the foundations of the business were laid in a tiny workshop, measuring 20ft by 15ft, in the Octagon in 1862. The business was established as a result, of' the initiative of the late Mr Alexander Burt, who arrived in Dunedin in 1881, and - who first worked at. a gold mining claim at Waitahuna, and then as a journeyman plumber in Dunedin. In 1862 Mr Burt conceived the idea of into partnership in business with his brother Thomas, who came over from Australia. The partnership was begun on August 15, 1862, but just at that time the Dunstan gold rush took place, and the brothers could not resist the temptation to try their fortune on the goldfield. They did well on a claim,on the Hartley and Riley Beach until the river.rose, but eventually they abandoned it and returned to Dunedin. where they commenced - business in earnest. The expansion in Dunedin at that time was so rapid that the .firm soon had to extend. its operations. The formation of the Dunedin Gas Company, which catered for the .lighting of buildings and, the public streets, led to a great increase, in Messrs A. and T. Burt’s business. The firm’s first big contract was for lighting the Exhibition buildings in 1865. In the course of a few years Messrs A. and T. Burt’s business had grown to such, an extent that, although they, bad built on . all the spare land they had in the Octagon, their premises were too small, and in 1867 they leased a site in Princes street, next to Mr Begg’s music warehouse, _ where they erected a warehouse and built new workshops, in which the plant for a great many of the early breweries in New Zealand was manufactured. In 1874'Messrs A. and T. ‘ Burt again found that their operations had outgrown the capacity of their works, and they decided to remove to the premises in which they are at present located. As the city and the province have ‘ expanded, so have Messrs A. and- T. Burt extended their activities, which now cover the business of general and electrical engineers, sanitary plumbers, brassfounders,’ coppersmiths, etc. The firm has established a worthy reputation throughout the Dominion, and even further afield, and its name has been associated with almost innumerable works of considerable magniture in different places in both the North and South Islands, In all departments in the different branches the firm provides employment for something like 1000 hands, to whom a very large sum is paid in wages annually.