Hornby: Early Industry

Samuel Smart and Sons established a stone breaking works in the area about 1884. The demand for road metal, shingle and sand was significant and within five years the land had been excavated to a depth of some 30 feet. Before recent development the area was known as Smarts Pit, and subsequently a road in the vicinity was named Smarts Road.

However Hornby came to be dominated by the early establishment of a large meat exporting industry. Opened in November 1869, and spread over 10 acres alongside the railway line, the Canterbury Meat Export Company had a chequered life. Initial success and the development of canned meat, was followed by the company’s collapse five years later; this was attributed to an over-supplied market and defective cans. For the next 13 years the plant was only worked at intervals, but the advent of refrigeration resulted in a change of fortune. The property was taken over by the newly formed Christchurch Meat Company, new freezing works buildings were constructed, and the area now known as Islington was born. The Township was very much a company affair and by 1896 the "Works" employed some 500 people.

A second freezing works was opened in 1896 adjacent to the Hornby Railway Station. This was an attempt by Nelson Bros., a big company in the British frozen meat trade, to enter the South Island. However instead of offering competition to the Christchurch Meat Company, Nelson preferred to negotiate. This arrangement was not to last very long, and by 1912 there was an agreement whereby the Meat Company leased the Nelson plant. Eight years later the Company, now known as New Zealand Refrigerating Company, bought the works, which survived until sold for demolition in 1936.

Sources

• McBride, I. The Paparua County, Canterbury Public Library, 1990.
• Loach, C. A History of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, Caxton Press 1969.