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Success Stories
The following is an extract illustrating the beginnings of the still flourishing company of McKinlay's Footwear of Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand.
EXTRACT FROM OLD EDITION OF OTAGO DAILY TIMES 30th.June 1894 OUR INDUSTRIES. XI. McKINLAY & SON'S BOOT FACTORY. There are few of our thriving industries of the present day which commenced in a more unpretentious way than that carried on by Messrs McKinlay and Son, boot manufacturers, of Hillside. When Mr B. McKinlay, the founder of the firm, arrived in the colony, prepared, he says, "to do anything—as every person landing on these shores in those times should have been prepared to do",—he had never handled a piece of leather; but he was an old acquaintance of Mr. Alexander Inglis, by whom the firm of A &.T.Inglis was established, and in the latter’s boot-making premises he was, with a band-press as his implement, set to work at the cutting-out of soles. Mr McKinlay applied himself with the utmost diligence to mastering the trade, with which he had almost accidentally become associated, and as time passed on he obtained the benefit of the experience that was to be gained through employment in two other factories. Sixteen years ago Mr McKinlay became an employer, but not on a large scale. The scullery of his dwelling house was his factory; his plant consisted of a press, which was worked by the foot, and rollers, which were worked by hand; and his employees were two men and a boy. This was certainly a modest beginning, but progress was both steady and sure. At that time Mr McKinlay's business was confined to cutting soles and selling them to the Boot-makers; but subsequently its scope was increased owing to the proprietor being entrusted by a trader with the bottoming of some "uppers," and this necessitated an increase in the number of hands employed, a clicker and a machinist having to be added to the-list. It was the custom with Mr McKinlay to buy from warehouses smail quantities of leather, as he required it, and upon his visits to the wholesale establishments he used to be invited to bring in samples of the work he executed. He was in such a small way, Mr. McKinlay was in the habit of replying, that there was no use his doing that, but some 10 or 15 years ago the occasion of an extension of his business was brought about in a somewhat unusual and a certainly unexpected way. There was at the time in question a dispute in one of the town factories, and a strike was threatened. A few men at that juncture approached Mr McKinlay and asked him if he would give them work. He received them into his employment; with the increased number of hands under him and an expanded output he ventured on submitting his samples to the warehousemen; and from that time forth he had more work to execute in orders from the wholesale establishments than he could accomplish. Gradually he went on increasing the number of his employees and an enlargement of his premises. For four years there was an interruption to his career as an independent boot manufacturer, the-old factory of Messrs Sargood, Son, and Ewen, in Cumberland street, being placed under his charge for that period; but the change did not effect his employees, for he took them and his plant with him. Ten years ago that arrangement came to an end, and Mr McKinlay returned to his old premises at Hillside. On three different occasions the pressure of space necessitated the enlargement of the factory, the last addition that was made being the conversion of the dining room at the Exhibition of 1889-90—Mr McKinley having purchased that portion of the Exhibition buildings on their being submitted to the public for sale— into clicking, machinery, "rough stuff," and store rooms. At the present time Mr McKinlay has in his employment about 100 hands, and an inspection of the factory cannot but leave upon a visitor a very favourable impression regarding the conditions under which the operatives are engaged at their work. The rooms are uncommonly lofty, but are neither cold nor draughty, the comfort of the workpeople being studied in the fact that gas stoves are provided, and the ventilation is admirable, the atmosphere throughout the building being as pure as could be desired. It is no matter of surprise, therefore, that the successive factory inspectors who have visited the establishment should be unanimous in declaring that those engaged in the factory ought to be healthy. The plant is a complete one for performing all the operations—from the cutting of the leather to the finishing of the article consistent with the manufacture of boots and shoes. Large as is the number of persons at present employed by Messrs McKinlay and Son, it is not nearly so large as it was 18 months or two years ago, when the value of the firm's output reached the exceedingly substantial sum of £2000-a month; Since then increased competition and increased importation of the cheaper class of boots and shoes have necessitated a reduction in the number of hands engaged in the factory. The firm's goods are all branded with the "arrow " brand, which is in the trade recognised as implying good and honest work. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAINLAND BOOT COMPANY
In 1890 John Brown Frame arrived in New Zealand from Scotland with two men called Craigie and Thompson. They settled in Dunedin, at that time the commercial capital of New Zealand with the wealth generated from prime agricultural activity and the gold strikes in the area. They made boots for the local Farmers to start with. From this activity there emerged the company of J.B.Frame and Sons. The tradition continued for four generations, making army boots, ice skating boots, motor cycle boots etc. Anatomy of Mainland product
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