It-Iarvest From Land And Sea Readied For Export

Bringing a. new industry to Prince Edward Island and one which shows indications of going far due to the quality of the product is the Eastern Potato Chips Incorporated, or Souris.

The five shareholders in the company expect to mar. ket their product in all the Atlantic Provinces and to this end have arranged for representatives to sell their chips in the other Provinces. The modern plant only went into production last week and as yet is not running at full capac- ity. The chips are being sold under the brand name ”Spud Island."

At full capacity the machines are capable of making 200 pounds of chips per hour.

The potatoes are put into a rotary-type washer which also removes the skins; they are then emptied into a load- ing platform and an automatic conveyor takes them into 1 slicer. After this they are carried through a long washing cylinder where they are thoroughly cleaned.

From the final washing the chips 'are moved by con. veyor belt to the long cooking machine. This is known as a Ferry model cooking machine.

As the chips come from the cooking appliance they drop into large cartons. These are then carried over to where a group of girls are working to put them into the trademarked packages, which in turn are sent along a con. veyor belt to another girl who sends the packages through a sealing machine.

Another male employee thereupon packs them in the convenient small cartons in which they are shipped to the retail or wholesale trade.

The newly incorporated company has five sharehold- ers, Messrs. J. Brenton St. John, M.L.A., Melvin J. Mc- Quaid, Ronald R. MacDonald, Arthur MacDonald and Eugene MacDonald. The latter is the manager of the new plant and operator of the cooking machine.

Those who have already sampled the Souris potato chips are in general agreement that they are of first rate Quality, deliciously cooked and salted to perfection.

The extent of the operations at the Eastpack plant, Souris, may be judged by the series of pictures left. They serve to tell the people the story of the entire fish fillet- ing operation. In the first picture the Marybelie is just arriving at the dock after a heavy catch. The second shot shows the unloading operation in the huge buckets oper- ated by winches and the third illustrates how they come into the finishing room. There a large group of men skin the haddock, hake and cod before a belt carries them to fllietters. The final photo shows the last operation before freezing as a large staff of girls pack them into boxes. These are all stamped with the trade name of the manu- facturer and are widely sold in North America. The con- tinuous operation from the time of arrival of the dragger to the freezing guarantees a top quality product arriving on the dinner table of the customer.

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Pictured above right is the new plant of the Eastern Potato Chips Incorporated, Souris, and attractive Miss Mar- garet Keus, a native of Holland who is now employed there as a packer. Miss Keus is shown at the final stage of the cooking process as the freshly finished chips are coming up on the automatic conveyor. She is holding several packages of the product. The potatoes are thoroughly washed and peeled and then go through extra spraying operations before they are cooked in hot deep fat. They are being marketed under the trade name ”Spud island”.

At the present time Souris is one of the most bustling towns in the Maritimes. Its port already has 12 draggers operating out of it and is expected to have even more within a short time. At present the bulk of the handling of fish coming in is being done by the Easipack Company, managed by Messrs. Paul and Edward Gallant and J. Arthur Peters. Another large plant (centre right) is being erected by Mr. Albert Griffin. The Souris waterfront is a continually busy place and the results are reflected in the employment in that town of large numbers of men and women from nearby areas. Another great shipping industry has grown up through the sale of pulpwood and the extent of this may easily be seen.

Pictured here are two scenes, (lower right) the Souris waterfront in general with another showing some of the huge piles of pulpwood gathered to await shipment.