The ironmasters : the first one hundred years of H. E. Shacklock Limited

"I little realized when I started this brief history of H.E. Shacklock Limited how interesting it would be. The founder of the business, Henry Shacklock, was a man of unusual talents, and his four sons with their varied interests and personalities were men out of the ordinary. But for me the centre of interest has been the products themselves - the ornamental iron work, the old fireplaces, the Orion marine engines, and above all the coal ranges. The centenary actually commemorates the production of Shacklock's first coal range, for the firm commenced in 1871, not 1873. For all but the first twenty-five years of European colonization in New ZealandShacklocks have been associated with the efforts of the colonists to build a better life. The countless coal ranges and electric stoves the company has produced have been a boon to the thousands of families down the years. The firm has not always been successful and prosperous, but it has survived the changes of a century, and never in those years has its importance to the country been insignificant. If this short account of the events of those one hundred years is able to convey to the reader part of my interest and some appreciation of the contribution H.E. Shacklock Limited has made to New Zealand, then I will be well satisfied."--Preface.