MATCH-MAKING IN THE COLONIES

Otago Witness, Issue 2929, 4 May 1910, Page 23

MATCH-MAKING IN THE COLONIES

IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS.

A NEW DEPARTURE PENDING. (From Our Own Oorrespondent.) WELLINGTON, April 30. It must not be inferred from the heading of this article that it has anything to do with matrimonial agencies or with those happy dames who are never so happy as when endeavouring to bring two young hearts together. All the matrimonial agencies and all the scheming matrons in existence must fall far behind the famous firms of Bryant and May and R. Bell and Co. in the matter of match-making,- and when these two companies combine their forces, as they have now done, the developments from a manufacturing and from a commercial point of visw must be of considerable importance. Mr C. E. Bartholomew, a director of Bryant and May, is at present on a tour of the colonies with a view to giving effect to an agreement arrived at between the firms of Bryant and May (Ltd.) and R. Bell and Co. (Ltd.). by which Bryant and May enter the New Zealand trade as manufacturers, and become possessed of an equal share with R. Bell and Co. in the latter's New Zealand factory, and in the business of both firms so far as New Zealand is concerned. A similar arrangemnt has already been concluded in Australia. It is not a question of the absorption of R. Bell and Co., but of the amalgamation of the two firms, each being on an equal footing. This arrange: ment will have important effects both in Australia and New Zealand. The model Australian factory, wnich is situated at Richmond, near Melbourne, has already been doubled in size, and it is now the intention to enlarge the New Zealand factory, situated at Wellington, and to equip it with modern machinery. By these means the outmvfc of matches manufactured in the Commonwealth and in the Dominion will be largely increased, and. the importaion of the British and the foreign-made article will be correspondingly reduced. In addition to all this, a new departure is being made—viz., the manufacture of wooden safety matches hitherto so largely imported from Sweden and Belgium—both cheap labour countries. The wood to be used in the manufacture of safety matches in the colonies for the present must be imported from Europe, but it is hoped that eventually it may be obtained in New Zealand and Australia. The wood used is an aspen—a species of poplar—and in Cape Colony, where Bryant and May have a large factory, the Government has planted several acres of trees with a view to the using of the timber for match-making in the firm's Capetown factory. A quantity of aspen suitable for boxes and probably also for matches could be grown in Australia and New Zealand, and the matter is certainly worthy of the attention of the authorities. The Capetown timber has been found suitable for both purposes, and South Africa is not a timber country at all. The popular impression is that most of the timber for matchmaking comes from Sweden, but this Is not the case. The Swedish supply is almost exhausted, and the great bulk of the timber used nowadays comes from Russian districts bordering the Baltic. The firm of Bryant and May obtains its supplies from Canada. For some time past suitable wood has bee.n becoming dearer and scarcer, and within the last ten years one kind of wood used has gone up 70 per cent, in price. '

The firm of Bryant and May has re- ' cently been devoting speoiaH attention to the extension and the imnrovemnt of its factories in British territories . In addition to the factories in South Africa, j Australia, and New Zealand, it has a large timber plant in Canada. The total number of its employees is about , 4000, and it now manufactures several thousand miles of matches per day. i The consumption of matches is on the whole increasing largely, in spite of the advent of electric lighting. The increase j is mainly due to the enormous increase in cigarette smoking. New Zealand and Australia use more matches per head of . population than any other country in the world. This is attributable to the fact that a large percentage of the people iead j an out-door life, and that there is a larger proportion of men than women in these countries. j An important point in connection with modern match-making is the improved sanitary condition of the factories, com- j bined with the disuse of poisonous plios- ; phorous. It is rather a strange thing that New Zealand, which is supposed to have led the world in labour legislation, is almost, if not the only, civilised j country in which the use of noisonous ! phosphorous is not prohibited in match factories. The New Zealand Government will probably introduce lesislation dealing with the matter during the currency of

the present Parliament. Bryant and May; discontinued the use of poisonous phosphorus in London nine years ago, and under the new management it is the intention of the combined proprietary to do so here. It is the intention oi the firms interested not to employ less, but the employ still more labour if it can get it. One curious phase of the match trade that is emphasised here, as in other countries, is the fact that different portions of the same country must have different colours. Thus, while Auckland and Wellingon must have blue heads, Christchurch and Dunedin must have brown. The same applies to every British community where matches are made. In Australia, for instance, Sydney must have pink, Brisbane brown, and Melbourne blue. To such an extent has this preference made itself manifest that if a wrong colour is sent to any of these cities the consigns ment is practically unsaleable. Th<) same preference exists In Great Britain* UndeT such circumstances one woula naturally expect to find green matches in Ireland, but that distressful country, curiously enough, asks for blue, and get( them. Some day, however, when th» Home Rule problem is settled, and th< whisky tax is no longer a burning ques< tion, one of the later day patriots will no doubt arise and declare that the blut \ match is another injustice to Ireland, ' As instancing the magnitude of th< match-making industry, it may be mentioned that the capital of the firm ol Bryant and May is £BBO,OOO, with a quarter of a million pounds worth of deben- { tures in additon. The firm is the original ■ patentee of safety matches. There is ) neither a Bryant nor a May in the pre-, sent-day firm. All the Bryants are dead, and there has not been a May in the business for many years. The firm of Bell and Co. is the oldest established' manufacturer of wax vestas, and to Mr Bell, sen., belongs the credit of having established a factory in Wellington 16 years ago. The only other match factory is the one at Caversham, and it will in all probability use the Bryant and May patent for the manufacture of nonpoisonous matches. The 9 type of machinery to be installed in fhe Wellington factory is quite up-to-date, and will involve a considerable investment of capital. When the factory is fully equioped it will be able to turn out four hundred miles of matches a day, or afc the rate of nearly three-quarters of a mile a minute.