The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Woollen Manufacturing Industry
Woollen Manufacturing Industry.
Mosgiel Woollen Company, Ltd. Directors, Messrs John Roberts, C.M.G. (chairman), Hon. Thomas Fergus, W. Hislop, and J. R. Sinclair; general manager, Mr. J. H. Morrison; secretary, Mr. W. Nicolson. Head office and warehouse, High Street, Dunedin. Mills at Mosgiel. Telephone, 208. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. Cable address “Morisco.” Code, private. Motto, “A' Ae' Oo'.” Agents: London, Messrs Wm. Nicolson and Co., Bury Court; Scotland, Mr. John Brown, Selkirk; Sydney, Messrs A. T. King and J. L. Morrison, George Street; Melbourne, Messrs Stogdale and Duffus, Flinders Street; Perth, Mr. C. Dunckley; Christchurch, Mr. R. Shanks. Branch at Wellington: manager, Mr. G. Pirie. With the exception of a handmill at Nelson, the Mosgiel Woollen Company was the pioneer of the great woollen industry of the Colony, being followed successively by the Kaiapoi, Kaikorai, Oamaru, Ashburton, Roslyn, Timaru, Wellington, and Onehunga mills. To the late Mr. Arthur J. Burns, sometime deputy chairman, belongs the honour of founding the premier woollen factory in New Zealand. Mr. Burns established the factory in 1871 as a private concern, and two years later, in conjunction with Mr. Smail, formed the first company. The original capital of the Mosgiel Woollen Company was 16,000 shares of £5 each, of which £3 10s, per share is now paid up; the capital was increased in 1889, when the mill at Ashburton was acquired, by the issue of 5,000 additional shares of £5, now paid up to £3 10s. per share, making in all £73,500 of subscribed capital paid up. In the year 1900, 2,845 additional shares were issued, paid up to £3 10s. per share: which brought the capital up to £83,457 10s. With the exception of one year when no dividend was declared, the company has steadily paid dividends, which have averaged the handsome rate of eight and a quarter per cent, for the whole period of the company's existence. All kinds of woollen goods are manufactured by the company, including tweeds, flannels, blankets, rugs, hosiery, &c.; the name “Mosgiel,” as applied to these goods, has long been a household word throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand. The head office and warehouse of this successful company in High Street is a brick and stone building of two stories in height, possessing large accommodation for the storage of stock, the trade being supplied chiefly from samples kept at the several agencies of the company. The products of this large organization have been regularly exhibited at leading exhibitions throughout the world, commencing page 336 with the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. This was followed by that of Sydney in 1879, and in the following year, at Melbourne, a gold medal and a special certificate were obtained for the best woollen exhibit in the colonies. At the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886, held in London, and at the Wellington Exhibition of the same year, the company's exhibits were greatly admired. In 1888, at the great Exhibition held in Melbourne, a gold medal was won by the splendid collection of woollen goods shown. At the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin (1889–90) a handsome display was made by the company, and, at the Brisbane Exhibition in 1897, two gold medals were awarded to the company's exhibits. A full description of the mill at Mosgiel appears under the name of that town in the pages of this volume. Formerly the company had mills at Ashburton and Kaikorai, but that at the latter place having been closed down, and the Ashburton mill sold, all the work now goes through the Mosgiel mills.
Mr. John Hardie Morrison . General Manager of the Mosgiel Woollen Company, Ltd., who has occupied this important position since shortly after the incorporation of the company, was born in Midlothian, Scotland. He was educated at the Bathgate Academy, and has been connected with the woollen manufacturing trade since his earliest days, having been brought up in a large manufacturing district.
Mr. J. H. Morrison.
Ross And Glendining, Limited. Warehousemen and Manufacturers; Head Office, High Street, Dunedin. Telephone 1302. P.O Box. 306. Bankers, Bank of New South Wales. Branches: Lichfield Street, Christ-church; Tay Street, Invercargill; Emerson Street, Napier; Victoria Street, Wellington; Hardy Street, Nelson; Elliott Street, Auckland; and Taupo Quay, Wanganui. Worsted and woollen mills, Roslyn. London house, 63 Finsbury Pavement. E.O. Sheep stations in Otago; Lauder, Blackstone Hill, and Barewood.
A capital example of the enterprise and industry of Otago's early settlers is to be obtained in the well and widely-known business conducted by Messrs Ross and Glendining (Limited), warehousemen and manufacturers, at their mills in the Kaikorai Valley, and their factories and warehouses in Dunedin and other centres. Mr John Ross and Mr. Robert Glendining came to the colony over forty years ago, and in 1862 they agreed upon the partnership that has been in existence ever since, and that has worked so prosperously with resulting good not only to the principals, but to the many thousands of persons who have been industrially connected with them during that period, or who are in their employment at the present time. A visit to the mill at the Kaikorai enables one to realise to some extent the great volume of business carried on, and at the same time gives a striking idea of the magnificent industrial resources of the colony. Under the company's control one finds every branch of a most important industry. Part of the wool used at the mill is grown upon the company's Lauder, Blackstone Hill, Home Hills, and Barewood sheep stations, and large quantities are bought from other New Zealand growers. This is carted to the storerooms in the Kaikorai Valley, where there is accommodation for storing something like 5500 bales, or to the town stores, where 2000 additional bales may be kept. At the mill the wool is sorted out by experts, and passed on to the different departments to be made into cloth, yarns, blankets, flannels, dress goods, rugs, hosiery, etc. Then a great quantity of the yarn is converted into hosiery of all descriptions, while a large proportion of the cloth is sent to the factory in Dunedin to be made into clothing; and thus the process is complete—the growing of the raw material in the shape of wool and the production of the finished article for local sale or for distribution to other centres of the colony. The various processes of manufacture at the mill necessitate the employment of machinery covering a floor space of over 75,000 square feet, and to this enormous area the company has lately added a space of 46,000 square feet. This in itself is an indication of the tremendous growth of the company's business, the capacity of its works, and the confidence the principals have in the future of this important and far-reaching industry. The works call for the employment of some hundreds of hands, and the extension means that additional labour will be required; all of which points to the distribution of a very considerable sum in weekly wages, and as there is every prospect of the work extending over many years, the benefit to the community is almost incalculable.
The clothing factory is also situated in High Street, just above the Princess Theatre. It has a frontage of 66 feet to High Street, with a depth of 115 feet, with a cart entrance to the rear for taking away loads of finished goods. There are three floors and a basement in the building, the total floor space being 30,000 square feet. Every corner is bright and clean, and the rooms are well ventilated and well lighted, while the workers of whom there are several hundreds, appear cheerful and contented with their lot. Machines that at once attract attention are those for cutting cloth. One piece is marked and laid on top of a thickness of perhaps 100 pieces, and an endless knife, running at high speed, makes a clean cut through the whole thickness as it is guided round the pattern by the expert. Machines that make button-holes are common now a days, and the company has a full supply, as well as other up-to-date appliances for the speedy turning out of large orders. Something in the way of a novelty is the machine for sewing on buttons. Machines for pressing buttons into a catch have been in use for a long time, but this machine is a comparatively new invention, which does its work speedily and faultlessly; one worker can sew five buttons on a vest within a minute.
The mills have the same characteristics that are noticeable in the houses of the workers—cleanliness, comfort, and beauty. The factories in the Old Land, as a rule, are depressing spectacles of ugliness, even the noted exceptions being expressive of the vigorous spirit of utility. In Roslyn there is something more. The channel of the Kaikorai stream, which flows through the property of the firm, has been strengthened by paving the bed and the sides. The banks have been planted with English trees, so that the mills stand in a framework of foliage. On passing through the gates in the mill yard, one is delightfully impressed with the order and cleanliness of everything and this is only an indication of the conditions that fortunately prevail throughout every department of the manufactory.
The manufactures of the firm's worsted factory embrace worsted coatings and trouserings, worsted and silk-mixed tweeds, dress and costume cloths, serges, and three-ply, four-ply, and five-ply fingering yarns. The products of the woollen mills are all-wool tweeds, dress tweeds, uniform tweeds, Crimean shirtings, tennis cloths, plaidings, white and coloured flannels, blankets, shawls, travelling rugs, and wheeling yarns. The process of manufacturing is as varied as it is interesting. After leaving the hands of the experts the wool is taken to the scouring room and passed through a “teaser,” which removes the greater part of the impurities; it is next delivered to a “multiple scourer”, in which it is thoroughly rinsed, after which it is caught between a pair of squeezing rollers, which so reduce it that a revolving fan is able to blow it off in very fine flakes. The fleeces are then removed to the drying room, where they are laid upon large wire-covered frames. The under parts of the frames are covered in, and form chambers, the only outward opening of which is a circular aperture in the outer wall. Here a 50in Blackman air propeller, swiftly revolving, draws the warm, dry air of the room through the wool on the wire, into the chamber below, and expels it from the building, thus a constant circulation of dry air through the wool is maintained. This process is so efficacious that two and a-half hours will suffice to dry the wettest wool. The bulk of the wool then finds its way into the dye-house, in which are placed iron, copper, and wooden vats of all sizes, and in an adjoining room are the dye stuffs. The indigo vat, with its special engine and apparatus, has a room to itself, and the appliances have been perfected according to the latest and most improved methods for securing the fastest indigo dyes in woollens and worsteds. The “teasing” process which follows is car- page 341 ried on in two rooms, one of which is set apart for white goods and the other for the coloured, and in both there is first-class machinery for opening out and oiling the wool. A large room, covering more than half an acre of floor space, contains the carding, spinning, twisting, and weaving machinery. The machinery comprises six sets of carding machines, ten self-acting mules (each running 300 spindles), and from fifty to sixty looms, besides several twisting and winding frames. The worsted mills adjoining contain machines for all the processes of carding, combing, drawing, spinning, and warping. Or worsted carding engines there are six sets, from which the wool passes to the combing machines. There are five of these, and most intricate and cleverly-constructed machines they are. The essential diference between woollen and worsted fabrics commences at this stage. In the case of woollens, the wool is in the carding process merely teased out thoroughly, and this teased or carded material is then spun up; whereas in the case of worsteds the wool fibres are carefully combed out their full length, and laid regularly in one direction before being spun—the short wool being separated from the long, with the result that in the latter case a much finer, stronger, and more regular yarn is produced. These machines take in the carded wool and deliver it in a roll, with the fibre all in one direction, and free from the smallest knot or twist. The processes of drawing and roving are next undergone by the material, to reduce it to the necessary degree of fineness, after which it is transferred to the spinning frames, from which it is produced as yarn, in any variety of thickness. The finer yarns are indispensable to the manufacture of the fine worsted coatings, costume cloths, and finer dress stuffs, which could not be made with even the finest woollen yarns. The milling, yarn scouring, tentering, and other finishing processes are carried on in rooms on the ground floor of the main building. In the hosiery factory many girls are employed, making every description or knitted goods, from the finer makes of ladies' and children's hosiery to men's heavy pants and cardigans. Trade is very brisk, and every day hundreds of dozens of hosiery goods are turned out by the special spinning and knitting machinery, all of which is up to date, possessing the latest and most approved appliances. An altogether new department has been added in a room for rendering goods unshrinkable—a quality that every wearer of woollen goods will appreciate and enjoy. Patent machinery is at work in this department, the company having secured its sole rights for New Zealand.
Every wheel in the new building is driven by new machinery. First to claim attention is a horizontal compound condensing steam engine, with positive Corliss gear, made by Messrs E. R. and F. [gap — reason: illegible] (Limited), Ipswich, England. The fly-wheel (9 feet 6 inches in diameter), which has seven grooves for 1 1/2 inch ropes, connects with the main driving wheel on the first floor. In addition page 342 to this driving wheel there is another grooved wheel, 4 feet 6 inches in diameter, which transmits the power to a shaft 3 1/2 inches in diameter, running the whole length of the building. The following figures in connection with the engine will prove interesting: Economical horsepower, 145; maximum horse-power, 200; diameter, high pressure cylinder, 11 inches; diameter, low pressure cylinder, 19 inches; stroke of engine, 28 inches; working pressure of steam, 120. The engine has a shaft governor for regulating the speed. The weight of the engine is 13 1/2 tons. A Hornsby water-tube boiler has been placed in position. It has eighty tubes, each 17 feet long. The “Sentinel” feed-water filter in connection with the boiler serves a useful purpose—namely, to filter the oil from the feed-water that goes into the boilers, otherwise if the oil entered with the water it would damage the boilers. One of Green's economisers for utilising the waste heat from the boilers has also been installed. From what has been said regarding the engine and its adjuncts anyone may judge that the company has secured the best that can be obtained for its requirements, and Mr. James Strachan, the engineer, not only thoroughly understands every branch of it, but takes the greatest pride in the machinery under his charge. If a new part is wanted for anything, it is made at the workshop on the premises. A friction crane for delivering and taking in goods is another useful appliance. It is on the second floor, and, in addition to the lifts, it runs into the building with its load. A prominent feature of the new premises is the high chimney, which is 10 feet square at the base, and rises to a height of 130 feet. In the older building there is also a compound condensing engine at work, supplying power to machines of various kinds, and electrical apparatus provides for 450 lights. On account of the great increase in the output of recent years it has been found necessary to remove some of the machines into new quarters, where there is more scope for the employees to work, and to make other arrangements for the better carrying on of the various branches of manufacture. Mention must also be made of the reservoirs. These are four in number with a capacity of several million gallons, the water being derived from a stream close by. The water necessary for manufacturing purposes is drawn from these reservoirs. The company possesses forty acres of ground in the Kaikorai Valley, fifteen acres of which are taken up by the mill premises and the reservoirs.
A quarter of a century ago, in 1878, this great industry was still within the region of vision and hope, but reasoned resolve and intelligent action, have made it a matter of veritable fact. From 1878 to 1903–4 is, comparatively, not a long period, and yet how much has been achieved in that time by Messrs Ross and Glendining. Under the old Home conditions of forty or fifty years ago, the history of the Roslyn Mills would have been as the history of Saltaire and similar places. To have accomplished what has been done under the prevailing conditions is wonderful. The colony is young and sparsely populated. Nothing like monopoly has been enjoyed. The great nations of the world have not been available as customers, as was the case with England long ago. The wise maxims of the firm, in addition to the foresight and boldness that has been shown, explain the growth. These maxims are: ‘To produce only first-class goods,’ and ‘To produce as large a range as possible.’ If these are adhered to, the growth of the firm will continue, and deservedly so. All honour to men like Messrs Ross and Glendining. May New Zealand never lack such men to take the lead in developing the varied and endless resources of the land. However conditions may change, captains of industry will always be essential. It will always be the duty of the many to follow, the function of the few to lead. If the leaders be wise and the followers faithful, the problems of New Zealand, as they arise one after another, will be solved, and its course will be upward and onward.
To the well-directed efforts of the two principals in the firm—Mr. John Ross and Mr. Robert Glendining—is entirely due the great success of this magnificent industrial establishment. Both gentlemen possess energy and judgment, and, in addition to building up a fine business for themselves—a business that is a credit to the colony,—they have given their time and their purses also to useful objects, as well as valuable assistance in charitable and other works. Since the business was floated into a company the affairs are managed by a board of directors, consisting of Mr. John Ross, Mr. Robert Glendining, Mr. Thomas Glendining, and Mr G. R. Hercus. The administration of all the heads is marked by scrupulous care and attention to the minutest details.
Mr. John Ross , Senior Partner in the firm of Messrs Ross and Glendining, was born in the County of Caithness, in the north of Scotland, on the 24th of November, 1834, his father, the late Mr. John Ross, being, at that time, a miller there. He was educated at the village schools in his native place, subsequently served an apprenticeship to the drapery trade at Lybster, near Wick, and later on became manager of the soft-goods department of a general store in a neighbouring county. In 1861 he sailed from London in the barque “Velore, a vessel of 480 tons, for Dunedin, and brought with him a drapery stock valued at several thousand pounds. On his arrival, after a prolonged voyage of five months, Mr. Ross joined the firm of Messrs Begg, Christie, and Co., being a partner in that business during the year 1861–2, when the large influx of population from Victoria produced such an unprecedented activity in the commercial life of the city. In 1862 he bought his partners' interests in the business, and was joined by Mr. Robert Glendining, in conjunction with whom he laid the foundation of the present extensive firm of Messrs Ross and Glendining. In 1870 Mr. Ross went Home to take charge of the firm's business in London, and resided there till 1902, when, on account of ill health, he returned to Dunedin. During his long sojourn in London Mr. Ross identified himself with many phases of active life in the great metropolis, and became a member of the London Chamber of Commerce, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute, and of the Japan Society. He was also the London adviser of the National Insurance Company, and a director of the firm of Messrs Thos. Brown and Sons, of Brisbane. Mr. Ross was married, in 1870, to Miss Margaret Watson Cassels, of Dunedin, and has a family of three sons and three daughters. The eldest son is employed in the Wellington branch of the firm; the second is (1903–4) studying engineering at Cambridge University; and the youngest is employed at the Roslyn Worsted and Woollen Mills.
Mr. Robert Glendining , Of the firm of Ross and Glendining, is elsewhere referred to as the Chairman of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board.