Mr Hugh Cassidy and 3 of his coach drivers, Arthurs Pass 4 May 1908.

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DescriptionMr Hugh Cassidy(left) coach proprietor and contractor for West Coast mails. Mr Joe Searle who drove the McLean's party through the Otira Gorge at night, Mr S Eastgate, Mr W Campbell manager for Mr Cassidy.
Seated in front of coach are Mr&Mrs Neil McLean, and this side of them is Mr Murdoch McLean.PhotographerChristchurch Star.Date of Photo4 May 1908.Map^[1]ContributorMaye Dunn

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Location (city or town)Arthurs PassPersonMr Hugh CassidyMr Joe SearleMr S EastgateMr W CampbellMr & Mrs Neil McLeanMurdoch McLean

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Date Created24th October 2021CommentsPhil McVicar
McLean and sons were the one who got the contract to build the Otira tunnel, later taken over by the PWD and opens in 1923.

Keston Ruxton
Didn’t Campbell hail from Reefton. He and his brother went into competition with Cassidy but they ultimately sorted things out after a court case in the way Cassidy often apparently sorted things out, by Cassidy taking Campbell into his business.

Keston Ruxton
Campbell’s father had run the mail coach between Reefton and Greymouth in partnership with A John Mitchell. The Campbell sons grew up with horses apparently.
My ggg grandfather James Rugg ran coaches between Reefton and Greymourh in competition with them for a while in the early eighties but appears to have been priced out of the market by Mitxhell and Campbell who had recourse to funding from their mail contract, something it was always useful to have recourse to when running coaches at the time.

Keston Ruxton
There is a very informative book about the McLeans who were at one time the largest contract builders of infrastructure in NZ. We have a lot to thank them for apparently, including many of the wharves in Wellington, Hataitai, which one of the brothers was an investor in, a section of the railway over the Mamakus to
Rotorua, and a particularly difficult to build railway tunnel somewhere near Kaukapakapa
North of Auckland. They appear to have be driven bust by the efforts of the unions at Otira and never fully recovered.

Myra Coleman
Has anyone info on the S Eastgate please. My grandfather was Frederick Eastgate born Hokitika 1882. From what little info I have he had a brother Sam born 1870 who died in Chch in 195

Grant Taylor
Great photo! The vehicle shown was known as a 'drag' rather than a coach; coaches were roofed over with a different seating layout and the driver sat separately up in front on the 'box'.0

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Mr Hugh Cassidy and 3 of his coach drivers, Arthurs Pass 4 May 1908.

Editing is temporarily disabled