Call to keep rare old tractor in country

Vintage tractor enthusiasts are urging Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Judith Tizard stop a rare vintage tractor being exported by its Irish buyer.

The ministry declined the export permit in July, but Irish owner Gerry King appealed and a ministry spokeswoman said yesterday the decision was now in the hands of Ms Tizard.

This is the first time the ministry has declined an export permit for a tractor of this nature, and if Mr King's appeal is unsuccessful the ministry will order that the rare Avery tractor stay in New Zealand.

Rural contractor Roger Mahon, a critic of the efforts to ship out a crucial piece of the nation's history, said the tractor was the only known model of its kind in New Zealand and was one of the earliest tractors to come to this country.

The rare friction-driven machine was imported to New Zealand by Wanganui-based company Hatrick early last century. It was reputed to be the first tractor in Wanganui.

Only one other has been traced, in the United States, and that was claimed to have been made in 1910.

Mr Mahon said its model designation of 5-10 referred to five horsepower at the drawbar and 10 horsepower on a belt pulley. Its transmission was a friction-drive, a right-angled flange wheel against a large flat faceplate.

The transmission drive flange had a fibre outer surface that could be disengaged simply by moving it away from the driving faceplate.

The tractor's speed could be varied by moving the drive closer to the centre of the plate, for a slow speed, and out to the outer edge to go faster. For "reverse gear" the drive switched to the opposite side of the flange plate.

"Friction drives were simple and gave a variation of speeds when most other tractors had only one forward gear," Mr Mahon said.

The tractor was discovered nearly 30 years ago under a collapsed shed at the head of the Waitotara Valley, near Wanganui.

When Mr Mahon heard the rare tractor had been sold to an overseas buyer who was seeking an export permit, "I wrote a strongly worded letter opposing the permit, giving the history I had about it", he said

"Most people I have spoken to would like to see the tractor returned to Wanganui where it began life in New Zealand."

- NZPA