68 Commercial Mrs. Matthew and children as retaining an interest. The name, Matthew, McLean & Company continued. After J. Brenton , son of Uriah; and Harry and Roy, sons of John McLean joined the business, the Company incor¬ porated under the name Matthew & McLean Limited in 1908. In 1911, Harold Matthew , brother of Brenton joined the Firm. Matthew, McLean & Company bought the factory wharf from the widow of Fred Morrow who had acquired it from James McLauchlan . They canned lobsters here and at Bayfield and North Lake . Trading vessels carried dried and pickled fish, canned lobsters and other products to the and came back laden with salt for fish processing. The business, mercantile as well as the fishery, continued to expand. Company vessels brought coal from Nova Scotia to the warehouse on the wharf to be retailed. Potato farmers were financed for fertilizer and other costs and their potatoes bought and exported. One writer had this to say: During the 1920s, when the Firm was operating at top potential, it was astounding the number of people that were employed to maintain the Firm's variety of opera¬ tions. The upkeep of the merchandizing, fisheries, agricul¬ tural, coal, canning and transportation entities required the employment of more than two hundred people...It was designed totally around the needs of a specific community and served the Souris area well for more than a century.43 These were the peak years. But in the 1940s times had changed. Other buyers came, fishermen unions formed, changes in canning and packaging were on their way. Many fishermen were getting their own gear and becom¬ ing independent. In 1876, Owen Connolly , a highly successful Charlottetown merchant mentioned earlier, bought a block of land in from Widow Beaton . It was on the south side of from the west corner of to the vicinity of the present day Parish Hall. In 1877, he built a very large building—about where the Hall is today—and employed Murphy and McBride to operate a store for him. Doyle and McBride man¬ aged a lobster cannery for him at Black Bush, which was advertised for sale in the Examiner March 5,1885.44 In 1888, Frank Heartz , son of Benjamin, came to Souris to manage a branch store of McLean, Heartz & Company. It was located in the Connolly building.4"' This building, too, was destroyed by fire. The Charlottetown Herald of April 29, 1891, had this to report: "For the fifth time since last autumn, Souris was visited by fire, this being the most destructive in its history." The large Connolly Estate building went first, and then the warehouse at the rear. The fire crossed the street, destroying Dr. Ford 's Drug Store and adjoining tenement building owned by the Knight Estate. It was said that the cinders blew as far as Black Bush on the North Shore . Not for the first time, the citizens of Souris met to discuss fire protection. As usual, some were unwilling to take on any form of administration that would mean more taxes. However, steps were taken sometime later in that direction with an Act of the General Assembly assented to May 19,1899. It reads in part: "Whereas it is necessary to provide for the prevention of accidents by fire in Souris , for the lighting of the streets and the construc¬ tion of sidewalks thereon..." The boundaries of the Town are given and instructions for fire prevention: