APPRECIATION OF SERVICES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 12 May 1939, Page 6

APPRECIATION OF SERVICES

RESIGNATION OF CITY ENGINEER RECEIVED WITH REGRET BY COUNCIL WARM TRIBUTES BY MAYOR AND COUNCILLORS The resignation of the City Engineer (Mr J. G. Littlejohn) was accepted w ith regret at last night’s meeting of the Nelson City Council, and appreciation of his invaluable services to the city over the past 28 years was placed on record. Mr Littlejohn asked to be relieved of his duties by the 4th June and expressed his thanks to the council for the consideration always extended to him in the carrying out of his duties. TIME TO ENJOY SOME LEISURE t

The Mayor (Mr G. L. Page) said it was with feelings of great regret that the Council received the resignation. However. Mr Littlejohn felt that the time had arrived when he should be able to enjoy some leisure and be free from the onerous duties which attached to his office as City Engineer. The engineer had been appointed to his position in 1911 and in the intervening 3'ears he had seen many changes and progress in the city, and his work had entailed the carrying out of many improvements. Examples of his work were the fine bridge in Trafalgar street, the Municipal Baths and the model yacht pond at Tahuna. As an engineer Mr Littlejohn was held in the highest regard by the profession and he was recognised as an authority on Municipal law, and in that respect he had been of great assistance to the Council :n giving interpretations.

WORK ALWAYS THOROUGH Mr Littlejohn would be greatly missed by the Council, said the Mayor. He was a man of the highest integrity, and when he carried out a work he did it in a thorough manner and had always produced an excellent job. He had always carried out his duties fearlessly and impartially and the Council wished him many years of happiness and good health in his retirement, which would allow him to follow up his hobbies, including the building of model yachts. The Mayor moved that the resignation be received with regret, that the Council place on record its appreciation of Mr Littlejohn’s invaluable services to Nelson as City Engineer and that his photograph be framed and displayed in the Council Chamber. GREAT NUMBER OF WORKS FOR CITY Councillor E. R. Neale (Deputy Mayor) referred to Mr Littlejohn’s prodigious knowledge which covered a great number of subjects. He was a man of strong opinions, and his opinions were worth while and were generally right. Mr Littlejohn had per-' formed a great number of works in the 1 city but the speaker wished to refer to one less widely known in connection with the dam for the main reservoir. After the dam had been built certain influences in the Council were determined that it would not be used, and it remained empty for a long time. There was even a strong attempt made to have it pulled down and the alleged cost of fixing it was a very large figure. Mr Littlejohn, about 25 years ago said he could repair it for £2OO. He did it and the dam had never been touched since.

Councillor Neale said Mr’Littlejohn had never spared himself in his work. He had worked long hours and never knew such a thing as a forty hour week. The City would never realise the extent of his work, which was always the best possible. He Had never heard a citizen complain about any work the City Engineer had undertaken even if the cost had exceeded the estimate. He wished Mr Littlejohn many years of happiness. Having such a wide ran°e of interests his time would never lag. THE RODING SCHEME Councillor J. A. Harley in joining with the previous speakers in their good wishes, said he was concerned that the Council would be losing Mr Littlejohn’s services in the next ■ twelve months. The speaker would fav- i our a consulting engineer’s position for him until the Roding water scheme was completed. The Roding scheme was now becoming an accomplished fact. Mr Littlejohn had a wonderful local knowledge of the district and it would be in the interests of the city if his services were available until the scheme was completed. In addition to his duties for the Council Mr Littlejohn had rendered excellent service in other organisations in the city, continued Councillor Harley, who said there were other bodies which wished to recognise his services to the city. As a friend Mr Littlejohn had been an invaluable help to the speaker. Always approachable and' straight to the point, the Council’s' employees had always held the opinion i that “The old man s a white man.” Be- j hind a somewhat gruff exterior was! a very kind heart. TOWN CLERK’S TRIBUTE Mr F. Mitchell (Town Clerk' said he was greatly indebted to Mr Littlejohn for the great assistance he had been to the speaker when he took over his present position with little knowledge of municipal affairs. He agreed with Councillor Harley’s reference to a kind heart behind a gruff exterior. Mr Littlejohn had always given his support for things which would provide facilities for the enjoyment of the children of the community. Mr Mitchell acknowledged the great help Mr Littlejohn had given him from his wide experience. MR LITTLEJOHN’S REPLY In reply Mr Littlejohn thanked the Mayor and the other speakers for thenkindly remarks. The position was that the work was accumulating and he felt it would be impossible for him to gel done all the requirements of the Council. He had often felt that the Council did not realise how much work was in-

volved in some of the requests they made. Laughingly he referred to the three instructions he had had to prepare a set of bylaws. The Standards Institute had undertaken to prepare standard building bylaws ten years ago but that organisation had not yet completed its task. There were about 1500 clauses for apartment houses alone. He would be pleased if he could clean up some of the loose ends in the work before he left.

Mr Littlejohn said his work had never been a burden to him as he felt he knew what to do, and could do it. It. was a matter of too many works. He would like to write a report on the administration of the office and the difficulties in dealing with the public, which had sometimes been unpleasant, not that it had worried him, he added. He felt he would like to see the Roding scheme carried to a successful completion. Much had been said about ;t, but he was satisfied that it would be a success. He also referred to the position of an engineer to-day being completely under the domination of some Departmental regulations.

In conclusion he thanked the Mayor and Councillors for their expressions of goodwill and said he was sorry that at the moment he could not give the Council some idea of what his movements would be in the near future—whether he was leaving Nelson or remaining here.