Another venture is being launched to provide cheap fish on payable lines. It is being made by the Deep Sea Fresh Fish Company (Ltd), of Dunedin.
This company has been recently formed on sound business lines and will soon be ready to call tenders for the erection of its fish works at Boiler Point, Port Chalmers. The site, which has been leased by the company from the Otago Harbour Board, is handily situated, both for the fishing boats and for transport.
The building will be in brick, with concrete floors to ensure cleanliness, an indispensable factor in hygienic food production. There will be three freezing chambers, with boiling-down, manure, gutting and smoking rooms. The company proposes to have its own fleet of fishing boats and its own retail shops in the city.
Shortage of teacher housing
It is well known that it is difficult to obtain accommodation for female teachers in some of the country districts, and in many of the outlying schools in Otago the teachers have to put up with a number of inconveniences. The story is told of a female teacher who was required for one of the back-of-beyond districts in Otago, and that, after much persuasion, a city-bred girl was prevailed upon to accept the position. The next problem was to obtain lodgings for her.
Various people in the district were approached without success, but at last one housewife said she thought she would be able to accommodate the teacher. There was, however, one small difficulty. The housewife had already four dredge hands as boarders, and they were required to go through the teacher’s bedroom when going to and from their own bedroom. Would the teacher mind? The teacher certainly did mind and stated her mind in most indignant fashion. She has now
secured a comfortable home elsewhere.
Ophir entrepreneur dies
The late Mr John Pitches, of Ophir, the news of whose death on July 31 in Melbourne was received by cable, was born in Essex, England in the year 1829 and landed in Victoria during the gold rush to Ballarat, Bendigo and later Gabriel’s Gully. At Ballarat he found a nugget weighing 3 oz 16 dwt which he had at his death.
His first landing in New Zealand was under anything but favourable conditions, as, having bought a mob of draught horses in Australia, he chartered a sailing vessel to bring them over, but shortly after leaving Melbourne they encountered very rough weather and it took 13 weeks to land, with the result that out of the shipload only seven horses were landed in Dunedin. He and his brother, Samuel, started a store in Alexandra about the year 1861 and all supplies had to be carted from Dunedin.
About 18 months later the two opened a store and hotel (the Union) in Blacks, where the store is still today. The country was infested with bushrangers and, as all goods were paid for in cash, the hiding places used to conceal the money were many and varied. For instance, it was frequently concealed in the lining of the horses’ collars and, though frequently held up, in no case was the money discovered when Samuel was in charge. In about 1864 Mr John Pitches took a trip to Melbourne to bring over his family. On his return he launched out more by opening a hotel and a store at Blacks, No 3.
— ODT, 9.8.1920.
