P.W.D. DISTRICT ENGINEER

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25242, 22 July 1947, Page 5

P.W.D. DISTRICT ENGINEER

APPOINTMENT OF MR E. F. EVANS

The appointment of Mr E. F. Evans as district engineer of the Public Worlds Department in Canterbury was confirmed by the Public Service Commission in Wellington yesterday. Mr Evans has been acting-district engineer since 1945, while still holding the position of resident engineer of the department at Greymouth. He has been in the service of the Public Works Department since 1909, and has been in charge of many railway construction jobs.

Mr Evans was born in Nelson and educated in Wellington. He was one of the first day-class pupils of the Wellington Technical School and later attended Victoria University College. He entered the head office of the Public Works Department in Wellington in 1909, and two years later went to Gisborne on railway construction work. He was subsequently employed in the Catlins district, on the West Coast, and in Taranaki. In 1918 Mr Evans went to Cromwell to take charge of the concluding work on the Clyde-Cromwell railway. Four years later he went to Beaumont to start laying the Beaumont-Roxburgh railway. By 1926 had moved to supervise the Taieri river flood protection scheme.

When the extension of the South Island main trunk railway was commenced about 1930, Mr Evans took charge of the northern end, working from Wharanui. This project was closed down during the depression. Appointed resident engineer of the Public Works Department in Dunedin in 1932, Mr Evans remained there till 1940. when he was appointed to Greymouth.

In 1942, Mr T. G. Beck, district engineer in Christchurch, was appointed inspecting engineer of the department, and Mr F. D Grant became actingdistrict engineer. In 1945 Mr Grant was appointed assistant highways engineer in Wellington, and Mr Evans succeeded him. Early this year Mr E. A. Gibson was appointed district engineer for Canterbury; but he became Controller of Civil Aviation before he took office.