Cooke, Howlison and Co. (Frederick Augustus Cooke and Edward Howlison). Cycle Manufacturers and Importers, 156, 158, and 162 Great King Street, and 26 George Street, Dunedin. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. Branches, Don Street, Invercargill, and Stafford Street, Timaru. This well known firm was established in 1895, by the present partners, Messrs F. A. Cooke and Edward Howlison, and under capable and progressive management the business grew rapidly. In 1897 the premises were considerably extended, and in 1901 and 1903 further changes were made. The firm now possesses a large two-storey brick building, occupying three blocks, in Great King Street, and a commodious show-room, occupying a central position, in George Street. The whole of the first floor in the Great King Street premises is devoted to the manufacturing department, which possesses the most modern contrivances for facilitating the manufacture, and adding to the quality of the manufactured articles. The now famous “Record” bicycle, with its ingenious attachments, and the equally popular “Jubilee” machine, and many other well known makes, are built by the firm, and supplied to retail dealers and private purchasers in all parts of the colony. The “Record” tyre is favoured by cyclists throughout New Zealand, and other fittings manufactured by the firm have won a similarly well-merited reputation. Messrs Cooke, Howlison and Co. hold several agencies for machines manufactured abroad, notably that of the celebrated English machine, the “Swift.” It was this firm that first commenced the building of motor-bicycles in Dunedin, and its success in that department is due to the wide knowledge of engineering possessed by the senior partner, Mr. F. A. Cooke, who spent several years studying that branch of science at Canterbury College. The extensive trade done by the firm in Dunedin, Timaru, and Invercargill is a high tribute to an establishment so young, and is an undoubted evidence of the high quality of its workmanship.

Mr. Edward Howlison , the Junior Partner, is elsewhere referred to as an excouncillor of the city of Dunedin.

The Kia Tere Cycle Works , Imperial Buildings, Princes Street, Dunedin; Messrs Stokes and Errington, proprietors. This firm holds the sole right of manufacturing the Kia Tere cycles, which are made in two grades from the best B.S.A. parts. They have also a complete cycle plant, including lathes, and brazing and enamelling plant. A specialty is made in building light racing machines, which are highly spoken of by professionals, and a large assortment of machines, and duplicates of all parts are kept in stock.

Mr. Benjamin Arthur Stokes was born in Dunedin, and served his apprenticeship with the well known firm of Messrs A. and T. Burt. He was afterwards employed in the cycle manufactory of Messrs Cooke, Howlison and Co. for seven years, for three years of which he was foreman. He started business with his present partner in 1903, and intends shortly to add electroplating and motor work, in which he is experienced.

Mr. B. A. Stokes.

The Moa Cycle Works (Alfred George Ferguson, proprietor), 105 Cumberland Street, Dunedin. Mr. Ferguson was born in Dunedin, and learned his trade in the well known firm of Steadman, Cooke, Howlison and Co., and at the Anglo Cycle Works, in both of which establishments he spent three years. He started his business in 1902, and is the sole maker of the Moa brand cycles. These machines, which are registered and protected, are made from the best imported parts, and are put together, finished, and enamelled by competent workmen. Repairs of all kinds are done on the premises. Mr. Ferguson is a member of the Albion Cricket Club.

Robinson, T., and Co. (James Frederick Peake), Agricultural Implement Importers and Manufacturers. Princes Street South, Dunedin. Telephone, 93. Post Office Box, 62. Bankers: Bank of Australasia. Private residence, Leith Street. This business was established in 1863, as a branch of the Melbourne house. Mr. Peake, who became a partner in the original firm in 1872, has conducted the business on his own account since 1885 under the old style. The premises consist of two storey brick and stone buildings—with large sheds at the back—erected on leasehold land, and contain upwards of 10,000 square feet of floor space, where all goods are carefully kept under cover. Messrs. Robinson and Co. are importers of all descriptions of agricultural implements and machinery, harvesting tools, and general farm sundries. They are agents for Bamlett's celebrated reapers, J. and T. Hornsby's ploughs, Johnson and Field's winnowing and seed-drilling machines, and Osborne's reapers and binders; they also act for leading Melbourne makers, including the firm of Messrs. T. Robinson and Co, of that city, and for Mr. Thomas Corbett, of Shrewsbury, England. As manufacturers, they make hillside ploughs, turnip-sowers, and chaff-cutters. Messrs. Robinson and Co. have a well-earned reputation for keeping a full assortment of fittings for all machines in which they deal, to the manifest advantage of their customers. Mr. Peake was born at Honiton, Devonshire, England, in 1844, and was educated chiefly at the Scotch College, Melbourne. Having joined the Melbourne firm, he came to Dunedin in 1866, and subsequently acquired an interest in the New Zealand business, of which he is now the proprietor. As a Freemason, Mr. Peake is attached to Lodge Dunedin, and is a past master of that lodge; he is also a past principal of the chapter of Otago, and past grand senior warden of the Dunedin Grand Lodge, E.C. He was married in 1872 to a daughter of Mr. J. W. Jago, and has three sons and four daughters.

Thomson, Bridger and Co., Ltd. , (James Cox Thomson and Walter Gow, Managing Directors), Ironmongers, Hardware, and Timber Merchants, and Woodware Manufacturers: Wholesale and Retail establishment, 144 Princess Street; Factory and Iron Yard. 54–62 Bond Street, Dunedin. P.O. Box. 119. Branch at Dee Street, Invercargill. The large business conducted by this firm was established in the early sixties by Messrs Guthrie and Larnach, and was afterwards conducted by the Dunedin Iron and Woodware Company, Limited, till 1887, when the extensive premises in Princes Street South, which at that time were being used by the company for the conduct of their manufacturing and general trade, were totally destroyed by fire. It was soon after that disastrous event that Messrs Thomson. Bridger and Co. became purchasers. In 1894 Mr. Bridger died, and Mr. Gow, who was formerly manager of Messrs Briscoe and Co.'s Dunedin house, joined the firm in April, 1898. In the following year, having purchased the stock of Messrs Walter Guthrie and Co., Limited, from the liquidators of that business, a branch was established in Invercargill, under the management of Mr. James Allan, one of the partners. The firm was turned into a limited liability company in 1902, with Messrs Thomson and Gow, as managing directors, and Mr. James Allan continuing the management of the Invercargill branch. Messrs Thomson, Bridger and Co., Limited, are direct importers of all classes of ironmongery and hardware, and their business extends throughout the colony. The Princes Street premises are used for offices and wholesale and retail departments. There are two large double-fronted shops with plate-glass windows, one entrance having been closed to make additional window space for displaying stock. The wholesale department is on the first and second floors and in the cellar. The iron yard is in Bond Street, where iron, steel, and other metals, and heavy goods are stocked, and where the firm manufactures spouting, ridging, and fencing standards. The timber yards and woodware factory are also in Bond Street; and the factory is provided with up-to-date plant for sawing, planing, and moulding, bending, and turning, and other appliances for conducting the manufacture of all cases of woodware, including door sashes and all kinds of joinery, also rims, spokes, naves, felloes, shafts, dairy plant and machinery, churns, butter workers, cheese and milk vats, tallow cases, butter cases, kegs, etc., etc.