GEAR CO.’S OFFICES IN MARTON

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 11697, 17 October 1916, Page 5

GEAR CO.’S OFFICES IN MARTON

—Mil AND A FEW FACTS ABOUT THE WORKS. A prominent addition to the business premises of Marton are the offices which have been “established bv the Gear Meat Preserving and Freezing Company of New Zealand, Ltd.t Centrally situated in High Street, next the Bank of New Zea- ( land, two offices,have been fitted np 1 in a manner which at once suggests ] stability and usefulness. The first or outer office is arranged for tire use of the accountant. To fill this position the company has appointed Mr J. H. Gledstone, a gentleman who has been for many years closely identified with the stock business in the Wairarapa district. The inner office is for the use of the Company’s buyers when in Marton. On this codst the buyers are Messrs T, C. Cornford, Taihape; G. E. Swainson, j Silverhope; F. C. Fantham, Wanganui ; and K. W. Deigbton, Marton. ( It may be of interest to our readers ( in the country to note that the Gear , Company’s works .at Petono has « i daily killing capacity of 10,000 sheep ] and lambs, as well as a large number j of cattle. In order to deal with such j numbers of stock it necessarily fol- r lows that huge yards are first of all required to accommodate them as j they reach the vvorks. In this re i spect (as in several .others to which j we hope to refer later), the facili- r ties at Petone are acknowledged to E be the largest and most complete in j Australia. All the yards (which } begin at the unloading shed at the ij stockyards siding) are brick-floored j and roofed with sarking and cor- , rugated iron. Every ipen has either artesian water running through it or ] is provided with specially construct- c ed water troughs for the benefit of ] sheep and cattle. These yards, E which might be, perhaps, more pro- < perly called stock shelters, are capable of accommodating at one time } 14.000 sheep and 5100 head cf cattle. j The advantages which the provi- ( siou for stock of shade and water in r the hot summer months, and shelter , from the rain and cold when the < weather is rough, in contrast to their standing sweltering in the broiling snn with little or no water, or shivering unsheltered j with rain-drenched skins often in < mud up to their hocks, are too envious to call for further comment. ( Promptitude in dealing with stock , ient to the works has always been , regarded by the company as of vital i importance, and an example of i what is done in this respect may be , worth while quoting. Starting - early in the morning one day last j season, one of the company’s buyers drafted off their mothers 1250 lambs • at the yards of a well-known farmer j about six miles from Feilding. These were sent down to Feilding , and trucked to Petone the same day , as drafted. So rapid was their de- . spatch that at ten o’clock the following morning the frozen weights were received at Feilding bj’ telegraph. 1 During the year 1915 when the. Admiralty had to commandeer so ; many of the insulated steamers for war purposes, a very great congestion in the frozen meat trade took , place, hut the Gear was the only ■ Freezing Company in N e . w Zealand wnieh did not stop killing operations altogether for a greater or lesser period of time. This unique position was largely attained through the provision made by the company of very extensive storage accommodation, which fact will be better understood when we state that during the period mentioned there were in store at Petone at one time no less a number than equal to 370.000 sixty-pound carcases. In these days of highly-priced land, and consequently more intensive cultivation, there is probably no subject ox greater importance to the. farmer than that of obtaining the most suitable manures for bis particular soil. Realising this fact and being of the opinion that greater ptoduction in the country means relatively more stock at the works, the Gear Co. has provided for the manager of its manure department, who is a qualified agricultural analyst, a laboratory replete with every requirement for testing soils, and manure ingredients. By this means the company is enabled to supply mixtures, the component parts of which mime up deficiencies and release latent properties required for the successful production of plant life in the various soils over which they are distributed. Of such complete works as the Gear Company’s, whose buildings cover sixteen acres of land, much more of interest might be written, but the foregoing will serve to give some idea of" the development of this well-managed organisation founded in New Zealand.