The History of Ice
Cream in New Zealand
By Chris Newey
Perfection
Perfection Ice Cream Co. (Ltd) was registered in Christchurch on 17 September
1926, with premises and factory at 300-304 Manchester Street. Shares
were owned by W.S. "Bill" Callick and D. Mitchell.
They may well have regretted choosing this address, as within a year,
their neighbour, a Mr and Mrs Hawke, had taken them to court twice,
the first time claiming "they had lost sleep and been caused annoyance
by the noise and vibration of the machinery", the second time
for a dispute over builder's access down an alleyway between their
house and the factory. In the second case, Perfection's builder, a
Mr Mulholland was the unfortunate target of Mrs Hawke's wrath, "airing
her grievances by heaving bricks, threatening with garden forks and
unburdening herself of offensive epithets".
The Court ruled against the Hawke's, and they were fined £2 and
costs.
In December 1926, Perfection advertised themselves as "Sole Suppliers
'Eskimo Pies' ", so they must have held the manufacturing licence
for Christchurch.
Perfection Ice Cream Co.staff, ca. 1932.
- Laurie Kench, via Owen Norton collection.
Perfection Ice Cream Company Ltd was registered as a private company
in October 1927.
In 1929, Perfection was involved in a three-way merger, instigated by
the Tai Tapu Dairy Co., and also involving the Christchurch wholesale
ice cream manufacturing plant and factory of W. R. Cooke & Sons Ltd,
a national chain of tea rooms. This followed a visit to the U.S.A. by
Tai Tapu's Secretary, Mr Charles P Agar, who had decided that the company
should enter the ice cream manufacturing business,. Tai Tapu first took
over W.R. Cooke, and then the resulting company took over Perfection.
The new business retained the Perfection name, Agar became Chairman of
Directors, and a £32,000 expansion and upgrade of the Perfection
factory began.
At this time, Perfection had a manufacturing capacity of 1000 gallons
per day, a fleet of seven delivery vehicles, and distributed as far afield
as Cheviot, Timaru, Greymouth and Hokitika.
21 December 1929: The Perfection IceCream Company is buying its cream
supplies direct from the farmers. These must survive a test of 40 per
cent, butter fat, or prove at least equal in standard to the quality
supplied for table consumption. With the other ingredients it is put
through a pasteuriser and passes to a homogeniser or viscoliser, which,
with a pressure of 25001b to the square inch, emulsifies the fat globules,
making a smooth product. This is then pumped over a-direct expansion
cooler, and its temperature reduced to a few degrees above freezing point.
It gravitates then into glass-lined ageing vats, where it remains for
36 to 48 hoars for the ripening process. From there it gravitates into
churns and finally into cans. An inspection of the new plant was made
yesterday by Mr C. P. Agar (chairman) and other members of the Board
of Directors.
The Perfection Ice Cream Co. factory, 300 Manchester St., Christchurch,
ca. 1932.
- Laurie Kench,
via Owen Norton collection.
Perfection batch ice cream freezers, 1932
-
Frostee Digest.
Perfection Ice Cream advertising sign,
with cat, 1940s?
-
Laurie Kench, via Owen Norton collection.
Laurie Kench with Perfection Ice Cream truck, 1940s?
- Laurie Kench, via
Owen Norton collection.
During WWII a 50 person capacity air raid trench was installed in the
factory by Christchurch architecture firm Trengrove and Blunt.
Filling Sixpenny Cartons at the Perfection Ice Cream Co. factory,
October 1945.
Caption: left - Hank, Phyllis Pullan;
right - Laurie Kench, Maurie Marsh, Ray Sykes.
- Laurie Kench, via Owen Norton collection.
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Ice Cream Brands from the Past.
