The Stanley Street, Auckland, Honey Plant

There was a significant honey processing plant in Auckland that served the NZ beekeeping industry for nearly 40 years, operated by each of the major honey marketing organisations throughout that time.

The plant acted as a receiving depot for honey, for any melting ou/repacking and processing as needed, and for packing retail packs for the NZ market.

The Stanley Street depot was established in 1919, by the NZ Honey Producers’ Assn (HPA).  This cooperative association had started mostly in Taranaki just a few years earlier.  The HPA’s members supplied honey initially to the Hawera-based facility owned by Henry Gilling.  After the first few years of trading, the HPA was encouraged by its board chairman, John Rentoul, to establish a base in Auckland.

Stanley Street became pretty well synonymous with honey handling from that time.  In 1922, a letter writer to the NZ Beekeeper magazine said that he would not want to be the editor “for all the honey in Stanley Street”.  That reference did not need any explanation for the readers; they all knew of the Stanley Street honey processing activities.

John Rentoul recognised the volume of honey the HPA was receiving from the Waikato, Auckland and North Auckland, as well as the transport logistics related to then exporting much of that honey, making an Auckland location most suitable. 

 The HPA created a plant capable of receiving honey in 56 or 60 pound tins, melting it out and blending honeys, and packing for the NZ local market.  The HPA was handling the honey from just about all commercial producers, either for export in bulk to the United Kingdom for packing there, or packing for the NZ local market.

The 56 or 60 pound tins of extracted (and set) honey were delivered by producers to a few depots/receiving stations around NZ.  They would generally have a wooden case – often made from the cases used to transport benzene (petrol).  (Until 1921, even the emptied benzene tin was refilled with honey!)  The cases would hold either one or two tins.  Unlike many other producing countries, New Zealand tried to ensure that the tins of honey were fully granulated before transport.

The HPA, though NZ based, maintained a melting and packing plant in the United Kingdom, and seem to have built it with the same set of equipment as that which was installed at Stanley Street in Auckland.

The Auckland plant’s location is almost always given simply as “Stanley Street”.  It was in fact located at 28 Stanley Street.  It was in Parnell, just beside Carlaw Park and just north of the Auckland Domain.  Both the Auckland port and train freight station were nearby.  The HPA had a number of other depots around the country for beekeepers to deliver honey, but only this one processing plant.  

The premises had a small brick chamber at the rear.  This was loaded with 60 pound tins and heated with kerosene lamps.  When the honey was soft enough it would be tipped into a tank, from which it was packed into 2 pound tins, the only retail container sold by the HPA at that time.  

Rentoul described the damage that could be done if one of the lamps filled the melting chamber with acrid smoke…

Only a few years later a more sophisticated heating system was developed.  The 60 pound tins were placed upside-down on a series of 2 inch pipes which circulated gas-heated water.  (Electrically heated water was later used).  The honey would flow into the large, shallow tank below as soon as it softened enough.  From there it would be pumped to a packing tank.  Rentoul claimed that judicious placement of the tins for melting out would allow the different flavours and colours to blend effectively.  As the honey was not being entirely melted out, no further starter honey was needed before packing.  The process did result in some froth being incorporated, which could produce unsightly results if the honey was later heated, such as when it was placed in a shop window.

In later years, to better control the creamed honey texture, the same system was used to fully melt the honey in the (upright this time) tins.  Rentoul acknowledged the potential damage of the heating involved, and the considerable effort.  Only 5 tons per week (3 tons in the winter) could be melted out for later re–granulation, limiting the plant’s capacity.  The melting out process was re-designed in the middle 1930’s to reduce the amount of handling involved.

Honey was packed by hand until about 1930.  The HPA commissioned an engineering firm to make a mechanised packing machine based on a German design.  The machine worked well, pumping 2 pounds of honey with a single stroke of the piston.

Blending of multiple lines of honey was initially a hit and miss affair.  A small sample blend could be made to ensure the outcome would be as expected, but it was somewhat tedious to do.  The blending necessary was greatly improved through the use of the honey grade certificates.  A calculation was developed so that honey could be blended directly from the certificates, without needing any physical inspection of the honey involved.

The Imperial Bee honey blend was developed by the HPA in 1919, probably as a result of the Stanley Street processing and packing plant coming on line.  The pack included some of the darker, stronger honeys from North Auckland (with a manuka predominance) with milder flavoured, lighter coloured honeys such as South Island white clover.  The pack generally utilised some of the West Coast rata honey, mostly for its light colour and rapid granulation (giving a very fine grained texture).

After the HPA got into financial troubles, in 1932 the NZ Honey Company took over the operations, including the Stanley Street building and plant.  Operations remained the same as previously, exporting cases of honey to the English processing plant, and packing for the NZ market.  Imperial Bee remained, but the HoneyCo packs – red, blue and green – were introduced by the NZ Honey Co, and appeared as standard packs on the NZ market for the next 30 years.

The NZ Honey Company ceased trading in 1938.  The Internal Marketing Department (IMD) took over the plant and operations of NZ Honey Co, and the Stanley Street plant was part of the agreed transition.  Between 1938 and 1954 Stanley Street remained as part of the Government’s marketing efforts.  When the Honey Marketing Authority (HMA) was established in 1954, the Stanley Street operation figured importantly.

The establishment of the HMA was not smooth.  There was talk of massively increasing the rent for the Stanley Street operation.  The honey industry, however, contended that the real ‘ownership’ of Stanley Street was with the industry itself, noting that it had been an industry-owned plant when the IMD originally took over the operations.  There was some Government talk about privatising the ownership, and leaving the HMA to deal with a private owner for rent.  

Almost as soon as the HMA began operations a replacement for Stanley Street was sought.  By February 1959, the HMA had set up a new building and plant in the same area, not all that far from Stanley Street.

In later years, the Stanley Street building was taken down, and a petrol station occupied the site for many years.  It is now the location of the Carlaw Park Student Village.