THE CITY ENGINEER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18874, 29 May 1923, Page 3

THE CITY ENGINEER.

TO TBV VDITOB. Sib, — A short time ago, when it was decided to.superannuate City Corporation officials at 65 years of age, the city engineer was asked to stay on to finish certain big works in hand. Since then there have been floods, and someone must shoulder the blame. A sum of £400,000 was spent upon the drainage of the city by the former Drainage Board, and the original scheme practically finished, so much so that when the work was handed to the city engineer it was considered to make so slight an addition to his responsibility that it was not necessary to give him any increase in salary. Now, when the system has had its first real test, the city engineer is asked to carry the whole blame of the designing and construction of- mains and conduits in which. be had no share. There has not been anything installed by the present board that has failed. If a patient in sickness calls in the services of a surgeon and the surgeon orders an operation and if the patient refuses the operation and dies, the doctor has not failed. Neither has the engineer if his recommendations have not been carried out. A leader in the Daily Times says that the problem is a difficult one and needs careful study. Careful study' takes time, and it is impossible that any man new ro the town should have the knowledge of thp habits and vagaries of the city’s mountain torrents which is possessed by the man now in charge, who, as everyone knows, studies everything in connection with his work, to which he gives his undivided attention. He takes the trouble, by the constant noting of local conditions, to know that he is doing the best that can be done. For all that appears in the newspapers, there is no one man in the council who has been connected with either the Works or Water Committees who does not really know that the present engineer is fully capable of carrying out any work required, and also that he will carry it out at as reasonable a cost as can be done. The city engineer is of so reserved a disposition that very few people have any idea of. the, work he is doing or has done. Expert' opinion was sought when ,it. was. proposed, to build the • Esplanade at -St; Clair.! Expert opinion,. said that £IO,OOO would be necessary for . the work. It was built by our own engineer and his able chief inspector, Mr King, for £3200. Ever since the Ross Creek Reservoir was built somewhere between 1860 and 1870 it gave trouble by persistent leakage, and thousands of pounds were expended in attempts to mend it.. The present engineer made careful investigations, located the weaknesses, and put the matter right for £2OO. Below the Ross Creek Reservoir is the Woodhaugh quarry. When Mr M’Curdie came to the council this quarry wa s out of use. Many attempts had cron made to work it, but had proved unsatisiactory. For the last 17 years it has been an asset, to the city. Thousands of pounds have been added to the -value of property in Tainui by the system of drainage employed there, and :c is only in such floods as the first °f those which occurred recently that the inhabitants suffer any inconvenience. The site of the Sullivan Dam was condemned as impossible for a reservoir, aim it was some years before the Government would give consent to build what mignt have proved such a serious menace to ate and property. Anyone who, m the recent floods, witnessed the awe-inspiring sight ot the storm channel handling its immense flow of water and discharging it below the dam Would have seen the,w;ork of a master s hand! ■■ It may be mentioned here t.'.at there is a special arrangement of syphon, which avoids the necessity or putting a pipe through the embankment, the cause of 95 per cent, of, the failure m dam,. This arrangement, though tried by many engineers, has never been worked successfully in any other clam in the world. It may not be a matter generally known by the public that a dam above the power house at Waipori is at present under construction. The retaining wall of this <w m i s when finished to be 38ft high, and *t will dam back the river for a considerable distance. The council . would have been nothing less than criminal if it had entrusted a work of this magnitude and nature to an engineer in whorn it had no confidence... It knew, and the Government which sanctioned the work knew, that this engineer’s work does not fail. We regard ourselves as patriotic New Zealanders, but we rush to pay homage to a stranger about whom we know nothing but what is written on paper and in more cases than one a ter fuller knowwe have been thankiul to pay them, not° for doing work, but for ceasing to do mischief.—l am, etc., R Hayward _ George street, May 28.