The New Zealand And Australian Land Company, Ltd. Head office, 54 Castle Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. General manager, Mr. W. S. Davidson. New Zealand office, 11 Bond Street, Dunedin. Superintendent, Mr Thomas Brydone. Inspector, Mr. P. Pattullo. This large company was formed in 1867 with a capital of £2,500,000, taking over a number of estates and runs in Otago and Canterbury, which had previously been worked by several small associations. The magnitude of its operations may be gauged from the following figures. The freehold estates—“Acton,” near Rakaia, “Levels” and “Pareora,” at Timaru, and “Hakataramea” (all in Canterbury), “Totara,” near Oamaru. “Moeraki,” at Hampden, “Clydevale,” near Clinton (all in Otago), and “Edendale” (Southland)—totalled 209,986 acres, while the leasehold estates comprised 339,745 acres, making a grand total of nearly 550,000 acres, worked by the company. The stock on these various estates consisted of 334,000 sheep, 5967 cattle, and 824 horses, and, during the year ending March, 1897, over 6000 acres were cropped in wheat, 13,454 acres in turnips, and 11,672 acres were laid down in new English grasses. The whole of the flocks of the company have been raised from superior imported stock, and fresh strains are being steadily introduced, so as to keep abreast of the times. In sheep, stud Lincolns, Border Leicester, Romney Marsh, and Merinos are separately kept at various stations, the cattle being now confined to the Polled Angus and Shorthorn varieties. The dairy factory at Edendale—the first of its kind erected in New Zealand—was established by the company in 1882, and secured the Government bonus of £500. Some 200 tons of cheese is the annual product of this establishment. As pioneers of the frozen meat trade, the company loaded the sailing ship “Dunedin” in 1882, and have since shipped 350,000 sheep and about 1000 head of cattle, the annual number of sheep being about 50,000, which are killed and frozen at the various refrigerating works, and shipped by direct liners. These sheep are largely fattened on turnips, which are sown in drills and broadcast. Under certain restrictions, the whole of the lands of the company have been opened for sale, and already 133,213 acres have been satisfactorily sold. The operations of this company have generally been most beneficial to New Zealand, as well as to Australia, where upwards of one million acres are held. [Since this article was written the Levels and Edendale estates have been bought by the Government for close settlement.]

The New Zealand Refrigerating Company, Limited , was incorporated in 1881, and is the pioneer freezing company of New Zealand. The capital of the company was originally £40,000, but has since been increased to £60,000. The first works built were at Burnside, near Dunedin, and a year or two afterwards works were erected at Oamaru. The system of refrigerating was then Haslam's dry air process, but this, together with all the original machinery, has since been superseded, and during the last year or two the most modern appliances have been installed. Both works are now equipped on the ammonia compression system, with plants supplied by the Hercules Company. The Burnside works have been practically rebuilt during the last few years, and are now capable of dealing with 1500 sheep per day. In addition to the stock handled, there has also been, of recent years, a large business in connection with the export of frozen rabbits, and 1000 crates—equal to 25,000 rabbits—have been handled in one day. The Oamaru works are capable of dealing with 1000 sheep per day. Although the company originally froze only stock, on account of the owners, it now deals with nearly its entire output on its own account. The various side branches of the business have all been developed, and complete tallow, manure, and other works for dealing with offal and by-products have been erected. The company is also interested in wool from the sheepskins, so that the business is now of great magnitude. The company's twentieth annual report, published in July, 1903, shows that in its operations for the year 242,588 sheep and lambs, 4,379 cattle, and 45,135 crates of rabbits were dealt with. A dividend of 8 per cent, was declared to shareholders, in addition to a very substantial sum being added to the reserve fund. The late Mr. E. B. Cargill was one of the promoters of the company, and was an energetic director up to the time of his death. At present (1904) the Board of Directors consists of Messrs John Roberts, C.M.G., (chairman). Thomas Brydone, A. C. Begg, W. Patrick, James Smith, junior, Watson Shennan, and Donald Borrie, well known as leading pastoralists and business men in Otago.

Mr. William Murray has been Secretary and Manager of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company. Limited, since 1899. Before that time he was for some years engaged in the frozen meat trade in Canterbury.