FURTHER EXTENSIONS.
Hitherto the committee had only the erection of a biscuit factory in mind, and plans for that building had been prepared, and in January of 1889 were considered by them. By February, however, they came to the decision that a biscuit factory was not enough. The trade now exceeded 600 sacks per week, an increase of 200 sacks inside the year, and they were of opinion that further extensions were necessary to meet the growing demand for bread. They therefore asked the quarterly meeting for permission to spend between £3,000 and £4,000 on the erection of a new wing to the bakery. This power was granted readily.
They were now ready to proceed, but they had learned something from their experience while the first portion of M‘Neil Street premises was being erected, so they decided to consult with the architect as to whether it would be advisable to put the whole of the work in connection with the erection of the building into the hands of one contractor, so as to get a time limit inserted in the contract. The architect, however, was not in favour of placing all the work in the hands of one contractor. The firm of masons who had built the earlier section were again successful in obtaining the contract for the building work. The contracts for the whole of the building work were fixed for a total sum of £5,532. A few weeks later a contract was fixed up for the erection of a travelling biscuit oven, at a cost of £200.
The new building when completed added very considerably to the Society’s productive power. It contained on the first flat the pastry bakehouse with four ovens; on the second flat the fancy biscuit department with one travelling oven and four ordinary ovens; the third flat was devoted to the operations of the biscuit and pastry packing workers; while on the fourth flat was the new oatcake bakery. The whole of the new wing was finished and ready to start operations at the beginning of April 1890, and not before it was required, for the average output had grown by then to 715 sacks per week, fifteen sacks more than the first building in M‘Neil Street had been erected to produce.