Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

The Kapai Corn Broom Company, Ltd

The Kapai Corn Broom Company, Ltd. (Thomas J. Harbutt, managing director), Manufacturers of Corn Brooms, Bass Brooms, House Bellows, etc., corner Victoria Street East and Coburg Street, Auckland. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. It is now nearly a quarter of a century since Mr. Harbutt concluded that the manufacture of corn brooms (known as ordinary American brooms) should be undertaken in this Colony, in order that the people might save the excessive freight on the imported article, and that the wages of those engaged in the manufacture might be paid and retained in the Colony instead of being, so to speak, sent away to America. In order that no loss might arise from want of knowledge of the industry, Mr. Harbutt sent one of his sons (Mr Lawrence Harbutt) to San Francisco to thoroughly learn the trade in all its branches. This done, Mr. Harbutt set his inventive genius to work on improvements which seemed to him to be necessary, and he produces
The Kapai Corn Broom Co.'s Premises.

The Kapai Corn Broom Co.'s Premises.

Interior of Kapai Corn Broom Stores.

Interior of Kapai Corn Broom Stores.

page 416
Interior of Kapai Corn Broom Stores.

Interior of Kapai Corn Broom Stores.

brooms of a quality which cannot be equalled by any over-sea importations. Indeed, considering the superiority of Mr. Harbutt's brooms over the imported corn brooms it is surprising that any of the latter should still come to the Colony. The output of the Kapai Corn Broom Company amounts to about 100,000 brooms per annum, and the turnover would be doubled if this first-rate local article were bought by the public. Mr. Harbutt was awarded the silver medal at the Wellington Exhibition of 1885, and a bronze medal at the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, London, in the following year, and these honours prove the excellence of his goods. Many other articles are manufactured by the Kapai Corn Broom Company, but only a few can be mentioned here, such as the spiral chimney sweeper, a long-handled cobweb sweeper, a long-handled scrubber for verandahs, dairies, etc., and the ordinary house bellows. All these and many others were recently exhibited at the Auckland Exhibition, where they deservedly gained first prizes. At present the raw material is imported, but it is Mr. Harbutt's opinion that at least a thousand acres of good land might be profitably set aside for the growth of the corn required by his factory alone. Assuredly the Kapai Corn Broom Company should be encouraged by all who wish well to the Colony, as only those who have watched the growth of the industry can form an idea of the energy and perseverance exerted by Mr. Harbutt and his sons in bringing it to its present state of thorough-going efficiency.