STATUS OF THE ENGINEER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9568, 26 January 1917, Page 7

STATUS OF THE ENGINEER

POOR RECOGNITION BY WORLD AT LARGE. In spite of the preponderant part played by the engineer, 3ub position in popular estimation stands far below that of the politician, whether lawyer or lay. An American economist lias estimated that the value of Bessemer’s invention to the world at large oannot be put at less than JJ100,000,(K)0 per annum, yet his name ig all but unknown to the general public (states “Engineering’'). In fact, public opinion, would to-day altnost seem to incline to the view that the navvies built pur railways by their unaided efforts, and that mo, great ocean liner is the result of tho undirected la- ' hour of our shipyard operatives. They do not realise that , every great engineering work has had to exist in the minds of the' engineers responsible, previous to its ' incorporation in* material form.

Tho divorce of the- engineer from public affairs and the minor place he occupies in popular estimation, is, we observe, causing disquietude on the other side of tho Atlantic. In a pkper recently read before the Society or Engineers of Western Pennsylvania, Mr J. A. 1». the well-known American bridge engineer, deplores the condition. of affairs ’in the United States and casts about for some efficacious remedy, As illustrating the present position oi affairs, he reports that- in one of tho richest and most active counties of the middle west a lawyer has been k appointed to the post of county engineer because it was held- 1 that the post must be filled, by a politician. The actual engineering work has therefore to bo done by deputy, thus reproducing tho characteristics of our own national services, where it has been common to appoint more clerks os heads of departs monte, even when these were concerned with highly technical matters. Tho official view is that expert knowledge i| unnecessary in such cases, as trained assistants can be secured to do the work, whilst the nominal chief signs the inevitable forms. As Lord Sydenham puts it, the results of such a system are that the man who knows all about some subject has to refer to and be overruled by Sbmeone who knows nothing whatever about it. The working of tho system as exemplified during the recent times of stress has been far from edifyinp. Mr Waddell further observes that in America, when tyro vacancies recently occurred, on the Interstate Oommorco Commission, which has to deal with some highly technical questions, the suggested appointment of an engineer to one vacancy was promptly rejected. # The usual method of expending municipal finances in America is, ho proceeds, also glaringly absurd. Tho responsibility has been left "in the bands of a horde of politicians,” with the result that the work, both of development and maintenance, has been "wretchedly and dishonestly done.” In fact, matters became so bad that -attempts have been made to establish a. commission # fonn of city government, but bore again, ho states, failure followed "because the posts continued to be filled with politicians. __