The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 87
[From North Otago Times, September 24, 1877]
The proposal to establish a powerful organization in the shape of a Joint-Stock Company, with ample capital for carrying on extensive operations for the purpose of turning to profitable account the immense source of wealth which, in our limestone deposits, lies at our very doors, is one which we regard as one of the most hopeful signs of the times for this district. The promoters of the Oamaru Stone Quarrying and Export Company have entered upon their labours at the very nick of time, the facilities afforded for transit to port, by the construction of railways, and the facilities for shipment presented by the breakwater wharves, in their several ways inviting capital to profitable employment in the establishment of a large export trade in what is probably—we think we might write certainly—the best building stone in the Australias. There seem to be present all the conditions necessary to ensure the most complete success; the supply is inexhaustible, the demand almost unlimited, and it would appear to be only necessary to turn the channels of trade into their natural course, and an enormous and profitable industry must be the result.
The evidence taken by the Sub-Committee appointed for that purpose by the Provisional Committee of the Stone Company conclusively establishes these points, and goes further to demonstrate that the stone can be quarried, forwarded to port, shipped, and landed in Melbourne or Newcastle at a price which will be much below that which has now to be paid for an article in many respects inferior; so that it appears absolutely certain that an immense trade must spring up so soon as our stone is known, and known to be obtainable at any time, in any quantity, at a certain fixed price.
It was shown during the inquiries of the Committee that in many instances, prior to our obtaining the railway and harbour facilities which we now possess, large orders for stone were offered, but had to be declined because of the impossibility, under the unfavourable conditions, of executing them within a reasonable time; in one instance the order being for no less than 400,000 feet at 4s. per foot, delivered in Melbourne. Under the present improved conditions, the stone could be delivered in Melbourne at considerable less than this price, and still leave so good a profit as to make the shares of the Company most desirable property, while with improved appliances, as the Company proceeds with its operations, it appears certain that the price of the stone can be still further reduced, yet leaving a good margin of profit to the exporters. But the investigation went to show that there is a difficulty facing the promoters at the very outset, which must be met and grappled with, while, that difficulty being removed, all that would be required to secure the most signal success would be good business management of the Company's operations. The difficulty we allude to is the existence of a prejudice among Victorian architects and builders against the Oamaru stone, arising from circumstances which were very clearly traced. These were, that two or three shipments sent over for, and used in a large building in Melbourne, were shipped in leaky vessels (one of which was barely kept afloat by the pumps till she reached port), and thoroughly saturated by salt water, the result being, as is always the case with lime-stone of this class, that the stone was ruined, and soon after the erection of the building was seen to be giving way and becoming rotten, thus apparently demonstrating that Oamaru stone is of a very perishable nature. Worse than this, it would appear that the contractor for the supply of the stone in question, to prevent its being condemned and thrown on his hands as not delivered in good order and condition, appears to have represented that the saltness detected was due to the fact that "salt springs abound in the neighbourhood of the quarries, all the water, in fact, being so brackish, that the workmen can scarcely drink it." This, all of us who reside in the district know to be a pure fabrication, but it served the contractor's purpose—his stone was accepted as a fair ordinary sample, and—for result, the Oamaru stone obtained a bad name, which nothing but experience of its good qualities under fair conditions will remove.
Scores, nay, hundreds of buildings in Oamaru, attest that the stone, though so soft when it comes from the quarry as to reduce the cost of working to the lowest possible minimum (50 per cent, even below that of working Bath freestone), hardens rapidly on exposure to the weather, and stands for years without showing the smallest sign of deterioration; while the testimony of men who have worked as quarrymen and masons, or practised as architects for many years in England and Scotland, is unanimous and conclusive in pronouncing the Oamaru stone to be without exception the best building material known to them. In writing thus we are not exaggerating in the smallest degree, the evidence published with the committee's report bearing us out in every letter. It is the most easily worked of any building stone yet discovered; stands better than any stone of its class; can be supplied in blocks of any size required, no matter how large, in any quantity, and cheaper than any other building material of anything like equal recommendations. Under these circumstances, the Company should find no difficulty in floating its shares; and, having once established its market, will, we feel persuaded, find itself in possession of an immense and profitable trade of annually increasing dimensions.
Walker, May, &Co., Printers,9 Mackillop Street, Melbourne.