WOOL WORKS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1977, 3 December 1889, Page 3

WOOL WORKS.

Amongst the local industries of the district not the least important are the wool-scouring 'establishments. At Orari Mr A. W. Eosor has a very extensive place, and evidently puis through a large quantity of wool. The place rs well adapted for the business, Mr Ensor having brought a bountiful supply of water from the river by means of a race, and thus, wi'h a pair of Williams’ Patent Boxes for cashing wool, and a Viin in which he can dry the wool, he is in a position to work in summer or winter. The kiln is made of brick, and beneath is the fire, the heat from which is radiated by means of pipes. In this three-quarters of a bale of wool can be dried in three hours, or four bales put in there in crates at night will be all dry next morning. The fellrnongery and tannery connected with the works are also important industries. By means of composition which is rubbed into the skins, the wool can be stripped off them in 24 hours, whereas it took from four to 20 days formerly to get it off. After the wool is removed from the pelts, they are prepared and fleshed, and then handed over to the tanner, who puts them through a process .in which they are tanned into leather. For this purpose six concrete pits have been built, and in these the pelts are steeped in water, in which bark and olher ingredients have been soaked. There is a good drying ground for wool, and large wool sheds, in which there is a splendid Speedy Wool Press, The whole looks as if there was a good deal of work done there, Mr Wakely, the tanner, lives „on the land, and we must compliment him on the garden he has adjo : ning his house.

At Winchester Mr Robert Smith combines wool scouring with the flax industry. The first thing which impresses the visitor here is the order, the cleanliness, and the tidiness that is everywhere observable. The buildings are in good order ; inside of them they are as clean as a new pin. Outside there is about three-quarters of an acre of ground completely covered over with clean shingle, on which the wool is dried ; the rood which leads from the main thoroughfare to the works is in good repair ; the race which brings the water is splendidly kept, and everywhere there is evidence of much labor having been expended in keeping things in good order. Here, too, are a pair of Williams’ patent woolwashing boxes, and a novelty which we have not seen anywhere else is the heating of the water by steam. The steam is generated by a portab'e engine not far off, and is brought by pipes into the soak tubs, where it heats the water in no time. Tinder the old arrangements the men had to pomp the water into a boiler where it had to be heated and then brought to the tubs. Now they have nothing to do but turn a tap, and the steam blows up through perforated pipes in the bottom of the tubs, Mr Smith has a Petrie Wool Wringerfordrying wool. This looks not unlike an over-grown mangle, between the large cylinders of which the wool passestowmg the moisture out of it. Four hours exposure to tha sundries wool after having passed through the wringer. Here, too, is a Speedy Wool Press. Mr Smith lias been working flax here all the winter, but now the wool demands his attention. In the immediate vicinity, however, he has erected a building where he has placed a pair of strippers and a scutcher, and both industries are now carried on side by side.

Not far off, at Winchester, Mr McCaskill has also wool woiks. Here there is a limpid stream of splendid running water, and the place is so arranged that the supply of it can be regulated to requiremens. There is also a splendid shingle terrace for drying the wool, and spacious wool stores in which thareisa Speedy Wool Press. A novelty here is a water-wheel which pumps the, water into the boiler, from which it is conveyed by means of a spout to the soak tubs. This water-wheel saves the labor of pumping, and is altooether a very convenient contrivance. & At Epworth, near Ternuka, Mr G. Newbury has erected very suitable premises. The novelty hero is a woolwashing apparatus of Mr Newbury’s own invention, which he calls a crate, and which econoraises labor in scouring (ho wool. The water is pumped into a boiler here with a pump that throws two buckets of water at a Stroke. There is also a Speedy Press, in well-kept premises, where there is a largo quantity of wool. There is a splendid drying ground, capable of holding about sCTbales of wool, and the p’ace is generally very convenient.