A COMMERCIAL TREK,

Otago Witness, Issue 3829, 2 August 1927, Page 27

A COMMERCIAL TREK,

FROM CITY TO BURNSIDE. ■ <. MESSRS REID AND GRAY S MOVE. The commercial treck to Burnside and the near vicinity that has been noticeable of late bids fair to raise that small suburb to undreamt of heights. Saleya-rds and a handful of manufacturing concerns have been Burnside’s chief claim to fame for many years, but commercial and manufacturing agencies have now found in the suburb at the foot of Lookout Point a home for their numerous enterprises. The result is that valuable city blocks are being shorn of their unsightly mantles in the form of time-worn foundries and factories, and they are now being thrown open to public purchase. Simultaneously Burnside is swiftly expanding by reason of up-to-date premises being erected by ambitious firms, among which might bo mentioned the Milburn Lime and Cement M‘Leod Bros., the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company, and Kempthorne, Prosser’s (N.Z.) Drug Company. The latest firm to join in the Burnside trek is that of Messrs Reid and Gray, manufacturers of agricultural implements, who have decided to abandon • their city premises in favour of a site out of town. The change will be accompanied by a complete alteration of policy and method, to ensure which the company has decided to install the latest and most efficient plant. The firm has purchased a site comprising one acre and a-half between the Burnside Railway Station and the Main South road. New works will be erected, with a lay out to suit the manufacture of their full line of agricultural implements and machines. The old site was added to as the business grew, and the company has decided to put the new works under one roof, in order to get better supervision. The new buildings will be constructed somewhat on the lines of the Exhibition buildings, in order to secure all the daylight possible, and Mr E. Anscombe has prepared the plans. Work on the new buildings will be started immediately.

Steam power will be dispensed with, and the whole works will 'be electrically driven. Two modern pneumatic hammers, made by B. and S. Massey, Manchester, England, are on order, and will replace the steam ones now used. These hammers will be driven with electricity. About 17 motors will be required to drive the new works, which .will consist of blacksmith’s, moulder’s, fitter’s; turner’s, woodworking, and paint shops. Fans to supply air to the blacksmiths’ fires and cupola are also on order from England, and are to be electrically driven. An electric welding machine has been ordered from Australia, and a new shaping machine and light power hammer from England. Oil furnaces will replace the coal furnaces now in use. The Railway Department has agreed to nut in ft loading bank and crane close to the new works. Messrs Reid and Grav hope to have their new plant running next January, and are to be congratulated on this forward movo to produce the latest' improved farm implements in a modern factory at a minimum cost. The present site in Princes and Crawford streets, lias increased in value to such an extent that it is now considered by the company to be too expensive a luxury. It will now be sold.