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H. Brown, later a miller in Christchurch, installed patent rolling machinery, silk dressing machines and a power plant, so that in the mid-1880s the business was said to be ‘among the best flourmilling institutions south of the equator’.^[1] Thomas Rollitt took over the mill from the mortgagees and remained until 1899. In the following year Wood Brothers, the earliest established of Christchurch flourmillers, bought the mill from the Bank of New Zealand, rebuilt it in brick and renewed the machinery. The new manager, Derisley Wood, earlier a well-known athlete, played a prominent part in Ashburton affairs for many years.

Henry Moffat built the Wakanui flourmill in 1879 but failed after three years. The mill machinery stood idle for some time. Then two men in turn worked it for longer periods than Moffatt had done but again without success. In 1899 Rollitt left the Ashburton mill and bought what was now called the Wakanui Crown Roller Mills. He served the immediate needs of the district. Farmers took their corn and had it gristed on the same day, so that they returned home with the flour. But this useful service to the community was insufficient to keep the mill profitably employed. So in late 1905 Philip Norman, the County Council’s resourceful handyman and bridgebuilder, moved the building as it stood from Wakanui to the corner of West and Kermode Streets, Ashburton.

In 1873 Charles Reed built a flourmill at Westerfield, apparently as part of a scheme, like Wason’s at Barrhill, to set up a village on his estate. After his death in 1880, the mill remained inactive until taken up in 1883 by a miller from Rangiora who failed within three years. The mortgagee, G. J. F. Ludlow an Ashburton tailor, though without practical experience, worked it for two years and then let it. However, in 1891 the new owners of the estate prevented Ludlow from improving the race to restore the water supply, so that in 1894, after trying unsuccessfully to obtain legal redress, he too failed. The mill burnt down a few days later. This was the third fire on the property of Ludlow or his creditors, but there was no suggestion of arson.

The Ashburton Dairy Company which owned the factory at Flemington went into voluntary liquidation in 1886. However, later in the year the factory made a fresh start. Apparently it met with fair success sometimes securing the highest price for its cheese in Canterbury. In 1894, a local storekeeper William Edward Bond took it over. He was successful although unable to obtain the 3000 gallons of milk a day necessary to work the plant to full capacity.