THE CITY ELECTRICAL DEPARTMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13923, 7 June 1907, Page 4

THE CITY ELECTRICAL DEPARTMENT.

It is to be regretted that the conclusion to which, as wo are satisfied, every dispassionate person, after reading tlio report of the proceedings at tho meeting of tho City Council this week, must bo forced in that Mr M. C. Henderson, whoso resignation of tho position of acting electrical engineer was then accepted as a preliminary to his reinstatement in the position of principal assistant electrical engineer, lias been treated with .somewhat scant consideration by tho Corporation. The correspondence that was read at the meeting shows clearly that ill' Henderson, from the time of his appointment as acting electrical engineer on the 2-lth April, urged upon the Council the necessity for tiie immediate appointment of an assistant electrical engineer. This he did in minutes dated respectively tho 2'Jth April and the loth May. And tho reasonableness of the representations he made becomes apparent in the fact that, in default of the appointment of an assistant engineer, Mr Henderson was being required, at a critical period in the operation of the city electrical undertaking, to perform the work upon which both Mr Goodman and himself had previously been engaged. But Mr Henderson could obtain no assurance that the recommendation he strongly pressed upon the Council, that assistance should immediately be provided for him in order that the work of tho department might bo carried on effiQieutly and expediliaiiib'j wjts to bo

acted upon. On the contrary, ho was bound to as-mino, from tlic fact that the lUectric Lighting and Power Committee failed at more than ono meeting to take any steps with the view to the appointment of an assistant, that his recommendation was being ignored, and iu the circumstances it is not at all surprising that he deemed it to bo his duty to place his resignation in the hands of the Corporation. Hut, significantly enough, the Council had already, at its meeting on the 22nd May, received a letter from Mr Stark applying for appointment to tho position which was at that timo actually held by ilr Henderson. Tho intelligent anticipation manifested by Mr Start with regard to the course which events were likely to take really strengthens the claims previously possessed by him to the respect of the community as a man of foresight and acumen, for we now find him appointed as successor to Mr Henderson at. a salary that is £200 per annum in excess of that of which Mr Henderson was in receipt, while Mr Henderson, displaying n spirit of selfabnegation that is as commendable as it is rare, accepts a position subordinate to Mr Stark. Though the available facts seem to us unquestionably to support the view that Mr Henderson was harshly treated, we cannot consider, in face of the qualifications Mr Stark brings to the performance of his duties, that the ultimate settlement, by the Council of what strikes us as a disagreeable business is ono that is likely to prove other than perfectly satisfactory to the city. And there is certainly this to he said in favour of the action which the Corporation has taken, that Mr Henderson, being a young man, has not had' the experience of hightension work and of long-distance transmission of electric current that has been enjoyed by Mr Stark. Of Mr Henderson's want of practical experience in that particular branch of electric science tho City Council was fully aware when the applications for the temporary appointment to tho position held by Mr Goodman were under consideration, and if the Council were in doubt as to Mr Henderson's ability to fill the office satisfactorily—of which there is no evidence—ho should not have been appointed. Having been appointed, he should have been promptly given the assistance of which ho stood in urgent need. As to the appointment of Mr Stark, lie came to the colony with very high credentials, and thoro.is no reason to suppose that the Council has dono otherwise than wisely, except that tho effect will be to creato an impression, which we should deprecate, that the permanent appointment to the position of electrical engineer is being cut and dried for that position.