AN ANCIENT ART

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 14, 7 April 1927, Page 8

AN ANCIENT ART

CLAY-PIPE MAKING IN NEW' ZEALAND THE POTTER S MOL LD GLEN MASSEY CLAY from Glen Massey, near Ngaruawahia, is said to be ideal for the manufacture of clay pipes. Is there a possibility of this quaint industry, long since moribund in England, motherland of the old ‘’Cnurchwarden," and similar pipes familiar to our ancestors, finding a footing in New Zealand, where the clay-pipe is now seen only at Sam Weller i ‘’Swarries”? ! Mr. E. O. Harrison, of Eden Terrace I Mount Eden, who spent his boyhood | making iVii* pipes, considers that the j Glen Massey clay is excellent for such ! purpose. This pipe, made familiar in former years by the British cartoonist, has had a long history. Invariably was the “honest English working man’’ depicted with a small clay pipe in his mouth. This variety was known [ as “cutty.” PREFERENCE FOR BRIAR A preference for the briar—perhaps Mr. Baldwin had something to do with it —has changed all that. No longer is the craft handed down from father to son as was the case with Mr. Harrison. Times have changed. This ancient sweated industry is gone

in England, though, maybe, it may revive under better working conditions in this young land. It is rather a long step down the ages from the tobacco-smoking and verse writing of Sir Walter Raleigh to the Maori regatta town of Ngaruawahia. But it was to the loyal Sir Walter, who was interested, fortunately, in more important matters than mere feats of gallantry to Queen Bess, that the first clay pipe was given. History relates how he was presented with “an Indian pipe” by Ralph Lane, first governor of Virginia, in 1586. True, what are believed to have been pipes of an earlier origin have been discovered in England. But proof that they were Roman has yet to be definitely established. Some idea of the bad old conditions that prevailed in the pipe-making industry in England is vouchsafed by the fact that it was only a good man w r ho could earn 18s w r eekly. This necessitated a 63-hour week. The workman also had to provide his own light. SWEATED ENGLISH INDUSTRY “I speak from bitter experience when I say that it was the most sweated of all the industries,” is Mr. Harrison’s reminiscent comment. Interest was aroused in the breast of Mr. Harrison recently by the arrival of a pair of moulds and a wire from England. It was with these that he toiled as a boy. These old English moulds have been utilised to make the New Zealand pipe. THE SUN’S photographer demonstrates the process. First of all comes “the roll,” not unlike a cigar. After drying, the clay is placed in the mould. The second object in the illustration shows what it looks like before baking. The .third subject is the pipe all ready to be placed in the oven.