MOFFETT & CO.

Southland Times, Issue 17905, 22 December 1916, Page 2

MOFFETT & CO.

AN OLD-ESTABLISHED FIRM, Established as far back as 1863, the firm of Moffett and Co. has become a recognised institution in Southland. The history of this firm carries with it all the trials, tribulations and successes that the pioneers of Southland have endured and accomplished, and the fact that it is still going strong is a sufficient indication in so far as its up-to-dateness, solidity, strength and clean-dealing are concerned. The firm lias grown with the town, and like the town It has no relation whatsoever to anything akin to mushroom growth. Messrs . F.H. and Arthur Moffett, who now have charge of the destinies of the firm, have made progressiveness their motto, and on every side there is striking evidence that they have not been swayed in any way from reaching their objective. None but old-timers will recall the fact, perhaps, that the spot on which tlie premises of Moffett and Co, have been built in Esk street \was part of the highest area in Invercargill, and before the buildings were erected considerable excavating was done in order to have the gradient reduced. Included In the lines which Messrs Moffett and Co. have attached to their extensive business Is that of an aerated waters and cordials factory, and a glance through this well-appointed establishment is well worth while. It is claimed for this factory that for its size it has no superior in Australasia. That is the opinion expressed by experts, and opinions of experts count in these progressive times. The first thing that strikes a visitor when entering the factory is the clocklike precision with which everything is carried out. One of the latest types of Tangye boilers is cosily ensconsed in a corner of the building, providing evidence of the vast amount of steam power at the disposal of the firm, and in addition there is electric power, all the machinery being electrically driven, and the factory throughout has electric light installed. Everything Is kept scrupulously clean, and the concrete floor lends itself admirably in this most important connection. The firm has been most fortunate in having a supply of water that when viewed in a glass at once brings to mind the phrase "clear as crystal." The process of bottle-washing Is an interesting one, and there Is a patent machine available for this which absolutely compels any foreign matter in a bottle to at once shift its quarters; and to make doubly sure a brush which revolves at a brisk rate is afterwards thrust into each bottle and thus completes the good work of having the bottles served up in as clean and as wholesome a condition as it is possible for the last word in mechanical contrivances and 200 degrees of heat to make them, and it should be borne in mind that every bottle receives thirteen minutes soakage. Even the corks that are used have to go through a cleaning process, and a kind of crate is seen to be perpetually revolving causes every atom of loose matter to be shaken from the corks. To describe in detail the process which the various . cordials are subjected to would entail an exorbitant demand ,pn. space. Shortly put, however, it may he . mentioned that after the syitup had deceived the gecessary boiling" 1 treatment, it is transferred, to earthenware vats, and included in the process is the Important task of eliminating all gas, machine that does this being an admirably thought-out contrivance. When a cordial Is ready for bottling, a filling machine is brought into requisition, and this machine is almost uncanny in so far as its ingenuity is concerned. The manner in which an expert bottler attending this machine can build up a pile of filled bottles is almost bewildering In its effect, the filling, corking and wiring being clone In the proverbial twinkling of an eye. The firm has one machine which alone can turn out 800 dozen pefday. Although the demand for Messrs Moffett and Co.’s cordials continues to increase week after week, so efficient is the machinery at their disposal that there never have’ been any fears entertained of the demand not being coped with. Recently the firm tendered for a '■ery large order for use outside of New Zealand, involving the production of hundreds of dorens of bottles of cordials, and ■it is to he hoped that the firm’s enterprise will meet with its wellmerited reward. Also the firm had recently to cope with the extraordinary demand at the Southland Jubilee Show, which the firm had contracted to supply. and this was done without the semblance of a hitch. The great Inroads thus made into the firm’s stocks, however, made not the slightest difference. for the production seems, like Tennyson’s brook, to "go on for ever." Of course the manufacture of aerated waters and cordials is only one of Messrs Moffett and Co.’s important sidelines Their warehouse and bond at Rinff are laden with good things, which afterwards find their way to every hole and corner in Southland, and to a large portion of Otago also. It Is gratifying Indeed to chronicle the success of such an old-established firm, and that it will continue to flourish as the green bay tree goes without saving, owing to the go-ahead policy that the firm has adopted from the time it was first inaugurated.