Hocken Digital Collections

John Reid and Sons Limited : Records

Details

Reference NumberARC-0704CreatorJohn Reid and Sons LimitedDescriptionThe collection includes correspondence, contracts and tenders for road works (particularly in Roslyn Borough), work diaries of company partners and staff, a diary for Corner Bush Estate, plans relating to the Mornington cable tramway line, and plans relating to bridges. There is also a small notebook of correspondence, plans and notes relating to the Monte Christo Estate, a printed plan advertising the sale of the Estate, plans relating to Cherry Farm and the Brooklands Estate, elevation and floor plans of Southland Farmers Cooperative shops in Gore and plans relating to Napier Harbour.
Only a small part of this collection is digitised and available through Digital Collections. Information about other items can be found on the Hākena catalogue, through the Library Catalogues link above.History / BiographyThe civil engineering and surveying firm of Reid and Duncans, was established in 1876 by John Reid and brothers James and George Smith Duncan. Reid was a farmer who also worked for the Public Works Department as a surveyor; George Duncan was a senior engineer and surveyor, who became known as the 'father' of cable-car systems in New Zealand and Australia. He designed and built the Roslyn Cable Tramway and laid out the Mornington cable-car system.
The Duncans retired from the business in 1885 and H.W. Reid was admitted as a partner. The firm was carried on as John Reid and Son. Three years later Edward Herbert Reid became a partner and the name changed to John Reid and Sons. The firm was less involved in engineering following the departure of the Duncans and became increasingly involved in real estate and subdivision work.
John Reid acquired an interest in the Monte Christo Estate at Wrights Bush in 1878.
(From, 'Southern People: A Dictionary of Otago Southland Biography', ed. Jane Thomson, Dunedin, 1998, and Cyclopedia of New Zealand).

Plan / drawing

Plan for mud tank, Mornington Tramway Extension, contract no. 12 sheet no. 2

Plan for dummy axle box, Mornington Tramway

'Rough Sketch shewing spacing of Brackets'. Mornington Tramway Extension.

Plan of rails and tunnels. Mornington Tramway, contract no. 9.

'Plans, elevations, and sections of pullies, shewing fixing of curve pullies'. Mornington Tramway, contract no. 8.

Two men in a car on the Gibbston Highway above the Kawarau and Arrow River

Depicts Or Relates To

SubjectsEngineersEngineeringTramways - DunedinCable carsSurveyorsBusiness enterprises - Dunedin

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John Reid and Sons Limited : Records

Hocken Collections | Te Uare Taoka o Hākena