OBITUARY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 131, 7 December 1928, Page 10

OBITUARY

MR. J. E. FULTON, M.I.C.E. Very general and sincere regret was expressed in the city to-day at the death of one of its best known and most - highly respected citizens, iv tho person, of Mr...Tames Edward Fulton, M.1.C.E., which took place at his residence, 27," Grant road, yesterday, at the age of 73' years. Mr. Fulton, who was for eight years manager and locomotive superintendent 'of the Wellington-Manawatu Railway, was born in Otago on 11th December, ' 1854, and was educated in that province chiefly by private tutors. He was . the second son of the late Hon. James ; Fulton, M.L.C., who' for many ycarsrj prior to the date of his elevation to the j Upper House represented the Taieriii constituency in the House of Represen-.-j tatives, The late Mr. Fulton obtained^ some technical knowledge in wood and.'* iron shops, and for nine months, in -J--1873 had sole charge of the engine and!*.; machinery of a large flaxmill. At the; j end of that time he was offered and ac-. cepled a cadetship in the Public Works v Department under_Mr.,TphnJ3arruth.e.rs 7 j'

H. P. Andrew, J'lioto.

engineer-in-chief, and accordingly on. 10th January, 1874, ho entered on these" duties at Wellington, passing the junior;', and senior Civil Service examinationstj shortly afterwards. Having served four;; years as a cadet, "he was appointed ml. January, 1878, os assistant-engineer of the Public Works Department. He alsopassed tho necessary examination mull obtnincd the certificate of New Zealand Authorised Surveyor. In November,' 1.881), he resigned his position in the Government service to engage in pri-; vale practice, but before leaving they' Department he was sent to the Bay nil Islands, Auckland, to take soundings of-jj the harbour and make a re-survey of| part of the railway there. Shortly)! after, he was employed by the chiefs surveyor of Hawkes Bay to undertake!' somo city re-surveys. In the beginning* of 1882 iic was sent to Auckland by thefi directors of the Kaihu Valley Railway,! Company to make a preliminary surveys and estimate of the cost of that propos-S ed railway. In August, 1882, he wasij appointed resident engineer in charge'! of tho construction of the Palmerston-^ Waikanao section of the Wellington and'l| Manawatu Railway under Mr. H. PS Higginson, chief engineer. Five years® later, while still in the service of the-is company, ho acted as referee, and wasg called upon to review the various^ schemes for the water supply and drain-^j ago of Palmerston North. Mr. Fultonfc' hold Ihe position of resident engineer in-^. the Wellington and Manawatu Railway*. from August, ISS2, till August, 1889,* when on the death of his brother, the? late Mi-. A. R. W. Fulton, he was ap* : pointed manager and locomotive superb iiileiidont, which positions ho held uutil£ ISDV, when ho resigned to engage in?-* private practice. Ho designed and built the Kolbura'i. cable tramway, a complicated piece off work of tunnels, viaducts, aud retain-fl ing walls, and designed tho nccessarys machinery and safety appliances fori handling the traffic. Among many* other works ho designed and built a? great many bridges for county couucilsS iv all parts of: the country, and also aJ number of them for the New Zealand! Government; the spans of some of liisa bridges being then the largest in theS Dominion, lie built several extensions! to light lines of railway, including thejj 30-mile line for the Taupo-Totara TinviS Tier Company and the Tongariro Timber^ Company's railway. In 1!)0() Mr. Fulton went lo America,* Great Britain, and Europe to study mod-? em practice in railway and bridge con>S structioii. Ho continued to act as aj consulting engineer in. New Zealand* until 1926, when he paid another visit*)' to England. On his return to the Do-a minion he then retired from business^ and entered into private life. In ISBI Mr. Fulton was elected anassociate member of the Institution ofCivil Engineers, England, and in 18SS, a member of same, later becoming a,~ member of the Advisory Committee for|'. tho Institution in New Zealand. Ho was,; for some years a member of the council?, of the New Zealand Institute of Sur-^ voyors, and for a time its president. In£ 1910 he was elected a member of tha? American Society of Civil Engineers*' He was also a Fellow of the Royal? Society. The late Mr. Fulton is survived by hisv widow aud one daughter, with whoinjmuch sympathy will bo felt. His* daughter is the wife of Professor Hot--* ton, D.Sc, Holloway College, Surrey^. England. The funeral service will be* held at St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral at »| a.m. to-morrow, tho interment being? private.