OBITUARY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 59, 10 March 1944, Page 2

OBITUARY

MR. THOMAS NEWMAN

K.Z. TRANSPORT PIONEER

(P.A.)

NELSON, Thursday.

The death has occurred of Mr. Thomas Newman, aged 84, whose name was bound up with the history of transport in Nelson. Maryborough, West Coast ana Canterbury- He was the first and last man to drive coaches in this area and the first to arrive in Nelson in an aeroplane. He drove the first and last coaches to Murchison, and was the first to land by plane in Murchison. Mr. Newman was early interested in transport, and at the age of 15 acquired a horse and dray to carry firewood. With a brother he commenced waggoning between Nelson and Murchison on the old corduroy roads. In 187S the brothers made the first trip in a coach to Murchison, carrying mail, and in 1882 took the first mail to Lyell, a goldmining township in the Buller Gorge. Later they extended the service to Westport. Several teams were lost in the flooded Buller.

During the coaching days the Newman brothers were known throughout the Dominion for their fine teams of horses and ever since the early days Mr. Newman has been a supporter of racing. Teams of fine horses on the Nelson-Blenheim route were widely famed. Each team was matched. In 1882 a horse named Daybreak was driven in a coach to Murchison and the following day won the Hampden Cup at the races. The last 20 of the coach norses were sold in 1918, when motor transport was adopted. Mr. Newman is survived by his wife, four sons and one daughter.