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A One Horse Power Machine

Jean Williams

Robert McNee (1837-1921), my maternal Grandfather, played important roles in the early days of Hampden, now Murchison. He developed the general store and bakery on the corner of Fairfax and Waller Streets, and his efforts hastened the establishment of the school and the library. When he died I had only just turned eleven, but I had been aware of his intellectual interests and his fascination for scientific theories and inventions.

I can recollect various gadgets about the house and stables, and modern conservationists would have applauded his technique for sawing wood. Literally, he used one horse power. I am unable to say just when the mechanism was first installed in the back yard of the Fairfax Street home, but it seemed old when I was a small girl, during World War I.

If you had come to watch, you would have seen a horse walking round a circle about six or seven metres in diameter. The harness would have been the same as that used when hitching a horse to a plough but, instead of a plough, it was attached to a swingle at the distal end of a three metre boom. The proximal end of this boom was attached to the centre of what looked like an inverted iron saucer about a metre in diameter. A strap from the horse's bridle was fixed to a hook about half way along the boom, and this kept him on his circular path.

After watching the horse, your attention would probably be drawn to the elderly Scot, standing in the wood-shed using a circular saw. The efficiency of the saw would vary according to the rate at which the horse moved around his circle. There was no pollution, in fact the waste product from the horse increased the fertility of the excellent vegetable garden.

When I was first asked to supply information about this machine I thought that it was unique, but I have discovered that there were many such machines around New Zealand.

Mr Clem Randall has sent me a photograph of a restored one in the Golden Bay Machinery and Settlers' Museum at Rockville. It was worked by two horses and was manufactured by Booth-McDonald of Christchurch.

In the Maniototo they were used to provide power for chaff-cutting machines. The owner did not have to store huge quantities of chaff, but could cut it more or less as required.

Mr Godfrey Hall has collected three examples, which are displayed in the Rural History Museum at Ferrymead Historic Park in Christchurch. These were manufactured in England, and the one from his father's farm in Hororata has been beautifully restored.

I wonder if this type of economical power could be used today in places where there is no reticulated electric power, such as on Stewart Island or in the Chathams. I often feel saddened when I think of the clever inventions perfected, used and then discarded in the name of progress.