Tri-ang had subsidiary companies with ten factories in Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Were if not for high tariffs, manipulated exchange rates, restrictions or imports of goods into many countries, and ever increasing freight rates, export from the U.K. of completely manufactored products would be far greater than it was.  To solve this problem it became necessary to manufacture inside the various barriers. This was not only to increase British trade but to protect Tri-angs designs, patents and trade marks.

 

Lines Bros LTD New Zealand . Tamaki, Auckland. Area of factory over 100.000 sq.ft.

 

Auckland Harbour Bridge

The first overseas venture was in New Zealand in 1946. At that time, and for most of the time since, that country had an almost complete embargo on the import of toys and prams.

Lines Bros bougtht a compagny called Joy Toys, which had a little factory at

Whangerei in the north Island. These premises were far too small and were lucky enough to find, quite quickly, a building at Tamaki.

In the early days Lines Bros Managing director Mr. S.J. Paul was asked by the local authoraties to help build badly needed wooden houses. This meant large quantities of timber, so the Lines Bros bought a mill in the bush, 200 miles north of aucland with extensive timber limits and builded up-to-date drying kilns at the Tamaki factory. Lines Bros exhausted their timber after some years and erected a new mill at Ohura.

 

A visit to this new logging mill and a tour of the 10.000 acres oftimber limits is an adventure one would hardly expect to have during normal course of a toy manufactory. The felled logs are sawn into planks at the mill, carried by heavy motor transport over indescribale roads through glorious mountain country to railhead and thence to Tamaki to be made into Toys Prams and house build materials.

 

 

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