TRANSPORT IN THE SIXTIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21601, 23 March 1932, Page 5

TRANSPORT IN THE SIXTIES

THE ABBOT JACK COACH

Written for the Otago Daily Times,

By M. G. T.

The photograph, of which a reproduction is presented above, was taken in Cobb and Co.’s yard, in Stafford street, in 1867 by Mr Allen, photographer. The man with his hand on the. brake lever is Air J. W. Fish, Cobb’s principal coach smith and working foreman in the coach factory, and the other is one of the grooms employed in the stables. The coach is standing in front of the main entrance to what at that time was the coach factory, where all the building and repairing was done. The coach was called the Jack Coach because the leather braces that acted as springs, on which the body rested, were connected with four curved iron uprights called “ jacks.” There was one jack about 14 inches high at each corner of the undercarriage. The head of the near fore-jack and the brace coupling can be plainly seen in the illustration just clear of the brake lever. The Jack Coach, or more correctly the Abbot Jack Coach, was built in Concord, New Hampshire, by a noted firm of coachbuildcrs, Abbot Dowing and Co., and was a fine specimen of the old coaehhuilding craft. The timber used for the body gear and wheels was the best of American ash and hickory. The inside trimmed with red plush was made very comfortable and convenient, pockets and racks being put in suitable places. The painting of the body, which was red and gold, was very well executed, and the panels of the doors were decorated with paintings which appeared to bo the work of no mean artist.

The coach, ■which originally cost £SOO, or, in .American money, 2000 dollars, was brought to Victoria from the United States by Cobb and Co. to be run to the diggings, about the year 1855, during the gold rush. Afterwards it was brought over to Otago when the Cole and Hoyt Bros, established themselves under the well-known name of Cobb and Co., and began to run coaches to all parts of the province. As far as the writer can remember, the coach was first used to run Mr John Barnes off the road. Mr Barnes had, in 1804, started a coach to Tokomairiro in opposition to Cobb and Co. The Jack Coach, with Ned Devine and a team of six, was put on the road between Dunedin and Milton at greatly reduced fares, and Cobb and Co. soon had the road to themselves again. As, however, the coach proved too heavy and costly for the rough roads, it was laid up for some time in the coach shod, and was used only on special occasions, such as the American Independence Day, July 4, when under the guidance of Devine or one of the Hoyts, with a sixhorse team and a great display of the Stars and Stripes, it was drawn round Dunedin and down to Port Chalmers. When the Hoyts sold out to Mr J. T. Chaplin in 1868, and, with Captain M'Kinnin, bought the s.s. Albion to go into the Japan trade, the sailing day was a great one for the coach, for, with Ned Devine, and his usual team of six, it was run lo Port Chalmers carrying the Hoyts and their friends. On March 3, IS7I, the occasion of an election for superintendent, Mr Chaplin, pleased with the way the election was going, got out the Jack Coach and a six-horse team in (he evening, and, with himself at the ribbons, filled it with eseierd electors and with great delight drove all round the town. He tried to turn in the width of the street (a common feat of Devine’s), but when he attempted a turn that was too sharp the coach locked and fell over on its side. Fortunately no one was hurt. The coach was soon righted again and was driven in triumph along Princes street and up Stafford street to Cobb's yard. When the railway from Dunedin to Waitati was opened, the old coach was again put in commission, and, with Devine and a six-horse team, carried passengers and mails between Waitati and Palmerston, the latter being the railway terminus from the north. About this time the writer ceased his connection with the old firm and so lost touch with the coaching business, but he thinks he is right in saying that all the conches that were not wanted for the interior were put into the hands of Wright, Stephenson, and Co., for disposal, the Jack Conch being one of them. Mr Arthur Carver, of Princes street, Musselburgh, tells me that his father, the late W. Carver, who for a number of years carried on a blacksmith and wheelwright business in George street, purchased a number of the old coaches and shipped them to Hokitika in a schooner called the Pelican. The Grey Star of November 27, 1922, in a reference to the cargo of the Pelican, says that one of the conveyances, an old stage coach built at the cost of £SOO, was found to be too big and cumbersome for the then West Coast roads and proved a veritable white elephant. After being stored in Donald Cameron’s livery stable, Hokitika, the old coach changed hands for the munificent sum of £5, the new owner being John Cameron, of Hokitika, who, upon special occasions, put the coach into commission, when, drawn by a team of beautiful greys and driven by a wellknown Jehu, Angus Cameron, it was a sight not soon to bo forgotten. Mr E. M. Lovell-Smith, of Christchurch, who, in the Otago Witness of November and December, 3927, published a most valuable and interesting history of the coaching days in Otago and mentioned the different kinds of coaches, makes the Abbot Jack Coach stand out well ahead for comfort and convenience. In Dunedin there were two of the same build which carried only 20 passengers, whereas the one here shown was seated for 29. A photograph kindly given to me by Mr Lovell-Smith shows the large Jack Coach in the early eighties standing in front of Cameron’s Commercial Hotel, Hokitika, with a team of five horses and Abe Morse’ as driver. It appeared to have a big load of passengers, 20 of whom can be counted on the top alone.