MEN WHO HAVE MADE TOWNS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 3130, 9 December 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEN WHO HAVE MADE TOWNS.

Although it falk to the lot of few men to be, like Cecil Rhodes, "empire-builders," there are (says the London " Daily Mail ') many men living to-day who have either founded large and flourishing towns or have nursed them from small beginnings into great things. Jarrow-on-Tyne, with it* population of over 34,000, is the child of Sir Charles Mark Palmer, still a hale old man of sevcntysix. In the forties " young Mr Palmer '* was a clerk m his father's office, and Jarrow was a tiny village with never a dream of the growth which was awaiting it. It was m 1852 that Mr Palmer, who had already blossomed into a coke manufacturer and colliery owner, built the small screw steamer John Bowles, which was the- cradle of the fortunes of Jarrow, and largely of Newcastle itself. Its success was so full of promise thai. Mr Palmer, m partnership with his brother George, commenced ship-building on a small scule. with the result that to-day their works cover 100 acres, 7000 men find employment m building ships, as many more are supported by the Palmers' mines of coal and iron, and Jarrow has developed to undreamed of proportions. Just as Sir Charles Palmer made Jarrow, Lord Armstrong is the father of Elswick; wiih its busy thousands of workers. When Sir Charles Palmer was acting as his father's clerk the future founder of Elswick was a Newcastle solisictor, without any suspicion of the fame and fortune which were awaiting him m quite another field of labour. He had already invented the hydraulic crane and the hydro-electric machine, and his brain wa* t«eming with other important inventions. In 1847 he abandoned the Inland started the Elswick Iron Works to develop his inventions ; but it was the discovery of the famous Armstrong gvn that brought fortune to him. and to Elswick. To-day Armstrong's works ou the Tyneside spread over (seventy acres a,nd give employment to more than 15,000 hands, thus supporting a population irf something like 60,000 people. Burton-on-Trent, with <■« population, of nearly 5&.000. owes its existence and prosperity to ohi William Bass, the c.-jj-rier, of the ln."t century, and his capable descendant*. It was ia 1777 that William Bpjss, while act- , iug as farrier for a small brewer called Printon, saw the fortune that. Jurked m Burton beec. He opened a sin&ll brewery on his own ucount, and tli&vght his fortune made when his yeariv t>»tpu.b amounted to 6000 barrels. To-day-- through the skill and enterprise of lixk descendants, the 6000 barrels hivvo >;j)own to nearly 1,500,000, while nearly 260,000,000 bottling labels are used every 'year. Tho minimum stock-in-trade ie 600,000 casks, 85,000 acres are required to produce the supply of barley and hops, and.

an army of over 3250 men are employed m the brewery and its offices. Manningham, with its population of over 35,000, was a scattered village, when Lwd Masham, then plain "Sum" Lister breathed on it and made it live and grow. Young Mr Lister, m spite of all the legends to the contrary, began his business life with a considerable- endowment of wealth. He was industrious and inventive, and chose to lead a laborious business life. His wool-combing machine, which cost him m experiments more than £100,000, was the basis of his fortune; but it was his discovery of the method of converting silk waste into rich velvets, plushes and silks that made a millionaire of him and a prosperous town of Mfinningham, where he built bis colossal mills. Even Birmingham scarcely realises the e'ebt it owes to the present Colonial-Secre-tary Quite apart from the impetus which Mr Chamberlain's prosperous business gave to its growtn, he has infused new life into all its veins. When Mr Chamberlain first came on the municipal scene, Birmingham was faithfully described as "a miserable, insanitary, overgrown village." To-day, thanks principally to it* most gifted citizen, it is a city of fine streets, stately buildings, and excel lent sanitation.