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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Wright, Ranish and Co

Wright, Ranish and Co. (Harry Ranish), Billiard Table, Billiard Dining-table, and Billiard Cushion Makers, 110 Lambton Quay, Wellington. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. This business was established in 1892, and since then the firm has worked up a connection in different parts of the Colony. Their Black and white advertisement for “Wright Ranish & Co. Combination Dining and Billiard Table” billiard tables are to be found in most of the principal clubs and hotels in New Zealand, and it is claimed for the locally - made tables that in the matter of quality and price they will compare more than favourably with the imported article. Messrs. Wright, Ranish and Co. occupy a two-story building, the floor space being about 2400 square feet. All materials, such as black wood, cedar, slates, cloths, ivory balls, etc., are imported, with the exception of certain classes of colonial timber specially adapted for the work. Mr. Ranish, who has devoted his life to the study of billiard table making, is a native of Austria, and arrived in New Zealand in 1887. The firm has agencies in Christchurch and Auckland. All the tables of their manufacture are fitted with thick bolted slate beds from the Home quarries, covered with best West of England cloth, and provided with the low Excelsior cushions, which have been found to be such a great improvement on the “cush” formerly in use. Besides its manifest superiority it is claimed for the Excelsior cushion that it is simpler in construction, more durable, and less expensive to manufacture than rubber block cushions, that it is capable of being readily removed and replaced, and is designed so that its face will stand almost at right angles to the surface of the table, the object being to give greater accuracy in the angles of replication and repercussion than has hitherto been possible. It is made of strips of the purest caoutchouc, glued together throughout the whole of their length by the same material in a liquid state, and prominent players from one end of the Colony to the other, to whom it has been supplied, have testified in unmistakeable terms as to its superiority over other classes of cushions. One of the most interesting features of the work done is the manufacture of billiard-dining-tables—that is, tables which can be used and are in every respect suitable for dining tables, and yet can at a moment's notice be converted into billiard-tables, fitted with cushions, pockets, etc., all complete. In one of these the top of the table is fixed to the framework by a steel bolt at each end, and is secured at the sides by pegs which keep it securely in position. When these pegs are removed the top of the table can be turned completely over with the greatest ease, so perfectly is it balanced, and there stands revealed a billiard table, true and firm, and ready for immediate use. A good stock of ivory balls and sundries is kept.