Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Journal of the Nelson and Marlborough Historical Societies, Volume 2, Issue 3, 1989

(b) Tapawera Lime Co. Ltd

page 7

(b) Tapawera Lime Co. Ltd.

At about the same time as the Kaka works commenced in 1920, Alex Drummond Snr. of the Wangapeka Plains seem to have recognised the importance of lime to agriculture. He arranged for Tom Hewetson to visit the Wangapeka with a portable crushing plant, driven by a Samson tractor. The tractor is now in the Wakefield Steam Museum. His sons, Alex and Basil, produced lime and used it on their farms prior to World War II. After the war they formed the Tapawera Lime Co. Ltd. with Vic Tomlinson, and established a permanent plant on the western hillside, overlooking the Wangapeka Plain. Peak production was 1962 tons in 1959, but the works was finally closed in 1966. In the last few years it was run by Kirbys Carriers Limited, but inadequate maintenance and a very difficult quarry seem to have led to its closure.