NEW RAILWAYS ENGINEER

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27637, 19 April 1955, Page 14

NEW RAILWAYS ENGINEER

MR RUSHTON POSTED TO CHRISTCHURCH CHANGES ANNOUNCED BY MINISTER (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, April 18. The appointment of Mr G. Rushton, at present assistant district engineer for the Auckland railways district, as district engineer at Christchurch was announced this evening by the Minister of Railways (Mr J. K. McAlpine). The district engineer at Christchurch (Mr W. J. E. V. Grace) has been appointed inspecting engineer at Wellington. Mr Rushton began his railway career in 1924 at Whangarei. He held various positions at Auckland until in 1944 he was transferred t to the district engineers’ office at Dunedin as first assistant engineer. After some time there and at Christchurch he was appointed assistant district civil engineer at Dunedin in 1948. He was transferred to Auckland in a similar post in 1951. Mr Rushton is an associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the New Zealand Institution of Engineers. Mr Grace entered the railway service in 1918 as a civil engineering cadet at Wellington. In 1927 he was promoted to assistant engineer at Wanganui, and five years later went to the Ohakune district office as first assistant engineer. He returned .to Wanganui in 1935 with the same rank, and from 1937 to 1941 was employed as assistant engineer on new works in the Auckland district. During the Second World War Mr Grace served for two years with the Royal New Zealand Air Force as an airfield construction engineer, attaining the rank of squadron leader. Most of his service was spent overseas in the South Pacific area. Soon after his return to the Railways Department Mr Grace was appointed assistant district civil engineer at Wellington.

Work in China Two years later, in 1946, he was granted leave to serve with UNRRA in China, where he spent 18 months as advisory engineer for the reconstruction of the 200-mile highway between Foochow and Amoy, in the southern province of Fukien. Soon after his return to New Zealand Mr Grace was appointed resident civil engineer at Wellington in charge of new construction works, including the Hutt Valley railway improvement and electrification scheme. He is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the New Zealand Institution of Engineers. The Press Association reports other appointments as follows:—Mr C. Clark, at present inspecting engineer, to be chief civil engineer; Mr I. M. Malcolm, at present inspecting engineer, to be assistant chief civil engineer; Mr K. M. O’Hara, at present, assistant district engineer at Wellington, to be inspecting engineer at Wellington; Mr E. I. McLeod, at present resident engineer, new works, at Auckland, to be district engineer at Auckland; and Mr N. O. Russell, at present resident engineer, new works, at Wellington, to be district engineer at Wellington.