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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Ocean Beach

Ocean Beach.

Ocean Beach is the name of a settlement which is about a mile and a-half by road-chiefly over sandhills-and one mile by rail, from the Bluff. It came into existence with the establishment of the local freezing works in 1892. These works are very extensive, and are the property of Messrs Birt and Co., Limited, of Sydney, for whom Messrs J. G. Ward and Co. act as managing agents. The settlement is in the Awarua electorate, and in the riding of the same name in the county of Southland, and had a population of a hundred at the census of 1901. A post office is conducted at the office of the freezing works, and mails are received and despatched daily. Provision has been made by the proprietors for the recreation of the men, by the erection and equipment of a library and reading room, with chess, draughts, and other amusements. A flax-mill was established at Ocean Beach in 1903, and for this the raw material is brought by boat from Tewais Point. Presbyterian church services are held at the works from time to time. Settlers in the neighbourhood carry on dairying as well as agriculture. The works are sixteen miles from Invercargill by the Invercargill-Bluff line of railway.

Ocean Beach Freezing Works (Birt and Company, Limited. Sydney, proprietors); J. G. Ward and Company, managing agents. These extensive works are built of wood, brick and iron, and comprise the usual departments of a modern freezing establishment. When the company com-menced operations a Haslam machine, capable of producing 120,000 cubic feet of cold air an hour was used, but after two years a Lightfoot machine of 200,000 feet capacity, was fitted up. In 1901 this was removed and was replaced by a Linde-ammonia machine, capable of freezing 3,000 sheep a day. There is a complete fellmongery in connection with the works, which are connected with the Government railway by a siding.

Mr. David Mitchell , Chief Engineer of the Ocean Beach Freezing Works, was born in 1851, at Brechin, Forfarshire. Scotland, where he was educated at Farniel school. He served his time as a mill-wright at Redford, and after working for two years in engineering works at Montrose, was engineer in several mills in that town. He afterwards worked on the Tyne, and then went to sea as engineer on a coastal steamer. After passing his examination as second engineer at Leith, he went to China as second engineer on the steamer “Miramar” When he had been two years on the China coast he passed an examination at Hong Kong, and received a first-class colonial certificate, and was appointed chief of the boat. He remained nearly two years in that capacity, and after returning to Britain, passed his examination at Dundee. On receiving his first-class certificate, he was appointed chief engineer of the s.s. “Delhi,” trading to India, and was in that trade for three years and a-half When he left he came to New Zealand. During all his time at sea, about ten years, he was with one company, It may be mentioned that at the time Mr Mitchell passed at Hong Kong, the colonial certificates were of no avail in the Old Country, though they are now, and have been for years; so that he had to pass again when he went Home. Mr Mitchell arrived at Port Chalmers by the s.s. “Rimutaka,” in 1886, and after residing for a short time in Dunedin, removed to Invercargill with a dredge which he erected and worked for the Corporation. He had a good deal to do with the inauguration of the Invercargill water works, and in 1888 was employed in working the plant. After three years' service under the Invercargill Corporation, Mr Mitchell was appointed to his present position as chief engineer at the Ocean Beach Freezing Works, and supervised the erection of the plant. Mr Mitchell is a prominent member of the Presbyterian church at the Bluff, and has been for some years superintendent of the Ocean Beach Sunday school. As a Freemason, he is attached to Lodge Fortitude at the Bluff, and was Junior Deacon of his Lodge in 1904, Mr Mitchell was married, in 1871, to a daughter of the late Mr William Crabb, of Carmyllie, Arbroath, Scotland, and has five daughters and three sons.

Mr. William Parsons , sometime of Ocean Beach, the Bluff, was born in Bristol, England, where he was educated and brought up to a country life. He spent some years in the United States, and landed in Victoria in 1857. Subsequently Mr Parsons came to Southland, and was engaged in sawmilling at Stewart Island for about five years. In 1865 he settled at the Bluff, and took up fifty-three acres of bush land, which he cleared and cultivated. Mr Parsons was married, in 1864, to a daughter of the late Mr William Kennedy, of the North of Ireland, and at his death, in 1903, left
Entrance To Bluff Harbour.

Entrance To Bluff Harbour.

page 882 six sons and four daughters. Mrs Par-sons survives her husband, and resides on the farm.