@cyril7   or potatoes and onions??

Agricultural for sure. From the crank on the wagon it looks like it's pulling tension on a wire. It's too high to be for a normal fence, and the wires they use for grapevines are only about 6foot off the ground as well, same for kiwifruit.

I'd hazard a guess that they're pulling the top wires for growing hops. The height is about right, and the flat alluvial terrain looks ideal for growing hops such as in the Nelson or Marlborough region.

BlueOwl:

 

Agricultural for sure. From the crank on the wagon it looks like it's pulling tension on a wire. It's too high to be for a normal fence, and the wires they use for grapevines are only about 6foot off the ground as well, same for kiwifruit.

 

I'd hazard a guess that they're pulling the top wires for growing hops. The height is about right, and the flat alluvial terrain looks ideal for growing hops such as in the Nelson or Marlborough region.

 

Not sure about hops though, they seem to be grown in sheltered spots around Motueka, Moutere area - not on exposed plains.

Its a horse.
Not really a machine at all .

I believe they are raising a circus tent - look at the back ground, looks like the sidewqlls of a tent, the dark at the top of the photo looks like the tent top.

Obviously it's and early tow-truck or crane truck!

I'd say it is definitely for lifting something like poles  lifting bricks into/dirt out of wells under construction etc, lifting wooden roofing beams etc onto buildings under construction or something like that or maybe tensioning wires (power/phone/agricultural etc),

There is a high chance that in the photo it is being used for something it doesn't normally do, otherwise if it was business-as-usual, 1) why would you take a photo, 2) why would the well dressed boss/official/mayor/MP show up for the photo?

That winch gives a lot of mechanical advantage and would be very slow so wouldn't be for big-long drags (that is what bullocks were for). The winch cable it fairly thin and the "truck" doesn't have much in the way of a counter weight or brakes/chocks, so again not for heavy dragging, otherwise it would move/up-end. It is either for hi level pulling (as pictured) of relatively light tension (then why would you have such a grunty winch), or lifting weights in close to the back axel for construction (most likely). 

Looks like a winch of some kind to me.

Looking at the angle of the snatch block the main line is under a reasonable amount of attention.

MikeAqua:

 

Looks like a winch of some kind to me.

 

Looking at the angle of the snatch block the main line is under a reasonable amount of attention.

 

In case auto-correct took over from normal operation?

Eva888: IMHO Potatoes, onions etc are sacked on the ground and the block and tackle lift it on to the tray. Sacks already showing on the tray so they must play a role. Maybe they also drop the piles of sacks on to the dirt so the pickers don’t need to go back and forth. Cable looks quite thin so unlikely to be for anything very heavy.

I was thinking something similar... crops in bags that you don't want to drag over the ground, so an overhead cable to a pole in the field. But generally it would be easier to just drive the horse and cart into the field to where the filled bags are, so I'm discounting that idea.

The horse is still hitched up, so I'm guessing that whatever they're doing doesn't take hours or frighten the horse. I do see what look like poles in the fields in the background, so perhaps they're pulling the overhead wires for an orchard or hop garden. However, the structure looks a bit tall for that.

There is what looks to be a power or telephone pole visible just above the bags on the cart, and maybe another one further away. But then the direction of pull is in the wrong direction to be stringing power or telephone lines. And surely you would plant the pole first, then string the lines to it.

Wondering if that's a 2-speed winch (it's similar to one I saw at the Cape Palliser lighthouse). In one position when the load is light it pulls fast, in the other position it's much slower but can pull a heavy load. So it might take all day to pull a lot of cable. Certainly the bloke doesn't seem to be working hard.

Fred99:

 

MikeAqua:

 

Looks like a winch of some kind to me.

 

Looking at the angle of the snatch block the main line is under a reasonable amount of attention.

 

 

In case auto-correct took over from normal operation?

 

Well spotted.  Sadly, no autocorrect to blame in this instance.  All me.  I meant to say tension.  But with two people watching it, my error is correct too.

frankv:

 

I was thinking something similar... crops in bags that you don't want to drag over the ground, so an overhead cable to a pole in the field. But generally it would be easier to just drive the horse and cart into the field to where the filled bags are, so I'm discounting that idea.

 

The horse is still hitched up, so I'm guessing that whatever they're doing doesn't take hours or frighten the horse. I do see what look like poles in the fields in the background, so perhaps they're pulling the overhead wires for an orchard or hop garden. However, the structure looks a bit tall for that.

 

Taking a horse and cart into a churned up field may have been impossible if it's boggy or churned up after harvesting.  Car horses were generally sturdy and placid beasts.  Not like the skittish hobby horses we see today.

neb: Another data point, whatever they're doing the rig is specially built for the purpose rather than something else repurposed or a jury-rigged affair, so it's something that gets done a lot/repetitively rather than a one-off job. My guess is the guy is a dentist and off shot to the right is the guy whose tooth is being extracted.

Yes. It's also something that has to be done in place/on site for each whatever, as it's transported fully assembled. It's also relatively quick, given the horse is still hitched up.

The well-dressed guy could just be a PR piece - "Joe Bloggs observed the installation of X with his company's new X-inator, which is 3x as fast. Or similar with government ministers or the first/last/half-way point on some project like a new long-distance phone line.