65) Umtali Board and Paper

As we were not selling many cars now that our customers had to come up with cash, Jonny looked around for some other way to make a living. In our yard at the time we had a large truck that belonged to Mike Harris that we were trying to sell for him. Jonny came up with the idea that maybe we could use the truck to make some money. He approached Mike and he agreed that his idea was good. It was coming up to cotton harvest time and there was a shortage of trucks to bring in the harvest. Peter Mabvira was still working for us and he had a heavy-duty driving licence so we applied for a permit to transport cotton. I suppose it was only to be expected that the transporters who had been doing it a long time got the most lucrative runs and we were given the job of bringing the cotton from a very long way away. I can’t remember where it was but I do know that it was in a valley somewhere and the road out of there was very steep and hard on the truck. Once when Peter was coming out of the valley with a truckload of cotton the truck broke down on the hill. Peter was pretty handy when it came to fixing an engine but this time it was beyond him, as a new part was needed. He got a message to Jonny and then just stayed put beside the road, guarding the truck until the part could be delivered to him. He really was an excellent employee, he was trained as a driver and that was what he officially was but he would turn his hand to what ever you asked him to do and was always willing to learn something new. He and his wife had their first baby about that time, a lovely little girl. She must be about 26 years old now. It is a pity we have lost touch, I wonder where they are now. Peter did a few trips with the truck but the road was very bad and it took it’s toll on the truck which was not new and it began to cost us too much to keep it on the road so we looked around for something else.

Cotton for Africa

As the car trade had been so badly hit by the lack of finance Jonny decided to go back to his boiler making and he approached a number of firms in the area to see if they needed any work done for them. Luckily for us Umtali Board and Paper Mill had just purchased a second hand crushing plant from one of the Nordic countries and they needed someone to install it. So we closed up the car yard returned the caravan to Ian and once again Peter moved with us and became a boilermaker’s assistant.

Installing the crushing plant was a big job. It was a very big piece of machinery, the motor weighed over 20 tons and to fit the crusher into the factory one of the existing pillars that was supporting the factory had to be moved. Of course it could not just be taken out and put somewhere else, before it could be moved other supports for the roof had to be put in place. The city engineer gave the factory engineer a sketch of how he thought the job should be done but Jonny had an idea that was much simpler, quicker and just as safe. Jonny explained to the factory engineer how he thought it should be done and he agreed with him but he was not keen to tell the city engineer that he did not like his idea. Jonny told him just to tell the city engineer that the job was almost done before Jonny had been shown the drawing and ask him to come and inspect it. The City Engineer came and had a look, he climbed up into the steelwork and was there a long time, Jonny was beginning to get a little concerned that he might not be happy with the way it was done and make him change it all. But no fault could be found with the job so it was left the way Jonny had done it. The new crusher meant that there had to be a new conveyer, new flooring, new ladders and new railings all of which Jonny had to make. He worked with one welder and Peter as an assistant. If there was ever a need for extra labour Umtali Board and Paper supplied workers.

The motor to run the crusher was as I have said over 20 tons, bigger than anything that was in Umtali at that time and when they connected it the whole of the Umtali Power Department was on stand by in case something went wrong. The motor was so large that it needed a smaller motor to start it. The smaller motor was started and it got the large motor going and then it took over the running of the huge grinder and the smaller motor was stopped. Jonny told us how there was a big noise as the large motor got going.
Umtali Board and Paper Mills manufactured most of the newsprint that was used in the country and there was a continual stream of trucks carrying the logs going into the factory and trucks carrying the huge rolls of paper for the printing works going out.

Peter and Jonny with the Paper Mill Motor