VISIT FROM A LARGE MANUFACTURER (From Our Own Correspondent )

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 10 April 1901, Page 71

VISIT FROM A LARGE MANUFACTURER (From Our Own Correspondent )

YVFLLINGTON. Apnl 7. Mr Eduaid Oadbury, s-on of tho pie-r.ut head of the woaUhy fum of tojia mr.i ufnc tuicrs, is at present m Wellington. When some time ago tho founder of tbe firi.i died, Richard and George took ou tho management of the business,, and mbscquuontly it was converted into a joint stock company Of this company Mr George 'LVlhury is managing dirootoi . the oth< r tin cclor.? being his t«o sons (of whom Mr Ec'waid, our present \isnor, is one) and his two nephews. ilr Eilv.ard is in charge of tho export dopal tment, and has romo out to the colonies pprtly oa pleasure and partly on bu^iues'. This is tho first occasion on winch cie^ of the firm has visited tho colonies. Tho Cadburys arc a gient Quaker family, and Mr Edward Oadbury is getting into clo^e touch \ut'i Quakers throughout Australia ami Now Zealand; in fact, he is hurrying through New Zealand in order to h" pro=ont at a c« forenfo of the Society of Friends to bo hrUl shortly in Melbourne, this bctng tho nrtt convention of the kind convened in the colonies for the past seven yoar«c. From Wollins;\on Mr Cadburv goes north on a vit-it to the Hot Lakes district. 110 v. ill not have time to visit the South Island, and his present intention is to roturn ro England >la tho Canadian-Pacific loule. Tho incomo of tho firm must now be very largo, for it has pro=pored exceedingly. When Richard and Gunge took over the business originally it only employed 12 hands. To-day it employs 3400 hands at Bourn well alone. It was near here, eomo four mi!P5 out of Birmingham, that Mr Edward Cadbury's father recently established his home 3 for workmen The piopertv denoted to this purpose is valued at £130.000 in a rising market The scheme is mar aged by a trust, composed of the members of the family, our visitor being treasurer of the trust. One of the conditions of the scheme is that no house shall ha\e less than one-eighth of an ocre about it Some 800 houses and shops have now been built on .the land, and a large proportion of the rentals, which, are fixed at a very low rate, go to the improvement and extension of the scheme Mr Cadbury started the trust in the hopes that other wealthy men would follow on the same lines in helping to provide more attractive homes for poor people m the cities. Mr Cadbury's father v»as greatly interested in the . working of our Arbitration and Conciliation Act. and, with the object of beconi'iig better acquainted with it, he some time ago had the Hon. W. P. Reeves, our Agent-general, down to his place to explain its details Mr Reeves explained the act in detail to a meeting- of 4000 workmen at Birmingham. The visit led to a friendship between Mr Reeves and tho Cadbury firm. Indeed, it is largely owing to Mr Rcevos's writings and his glowing descriptions of New Zealand scenery that Mr Edward Cadbrry has come out to New Zealand. Mr Cadbury says New Zealand is very hiahlv spoken of now in Great Britain, and Mr Reeves 13 largely responsible for this. Indeed, Mr Cadbury went so far as to tell the Australians the o^her day that it was high time they established tho Commonwealth, because New Zealand, owing largely to Mr Recves's voice and pon, has come quite to the front, and the intelligent working men of Great Britain knew more about it than they did about any of the other colonie=. Mr Cadburv, who is accompanied by his wife, lea^ es for the north in a day or two.