The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1907. THE HARBOUR ENGINEER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13434, 5 November 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1907. THE HARBOUR ENGINEER.

We feel convinced that with the departure of Mr J. H. Baynes, whose resignation its resident engineer , was accepted .yeeterday by the Tirnaru Harbour Board, and who leaves immediately to undertake the duties of a much larger and inoix> lucrative professional position in Queensland, South Canterbury is losing' the sfcrvicus of a man wliose stay in Timartf has been of real value to. the district, and who, under happier circumstances, might have' remained to do even better work for tho port. . Wo hope, in a future issue, to supplement, the brief paragraph in which this morning we have referred to tho principal results accomplished during Mr Bayjies's -three yearn of service under the Timaru Board,' though we are well aware, that the engineer's reputation stands in no need of any testimonial We are likely to be able to give to his professional achievements. Hiss selection, for the importaht office to which ho has been appointed in Australia speaka more ■eloquently of the standing to which ha'has attained in the engineering world thane which would be isaid by a daily newspaper with no pretensions to •. .the technical knowledge liecessaiy to express an opinion upon him and his works. But among the changes which have boen duo in great measure to the persistent advocacy of Mr Baynes—a persistency'.-which Avould probably have been, wanting in a man Icsasi consumed by anxiety for the success and progress of the works of which ho h£id charge—there are .sonic which cannot fail to commend themselves to even the most inexperienced layman by the obvious improvement which they represent upon the methods and conditions existing when he was appointed resident engineer. Wo refer more particularly jta the dredging arrangements which formed the subject of Mr Bayries's earliest 'recommendations to the Board. There is no need here to go over all the old story of the haphazard and ineffective employment: of the suction dredge long after the construction of the eastern mole had put : iiii° to 'liiir ' possibilities. c of uisefulnesis in this harbour, and the substitution of tliei modern' bucket dredge which, in spite of an inexperience 4 crew and a number of vexatious mishaps, lias still succeeded, within a comparatively short space of time, in making a substantial difference to the dept-li of the water inside the moles. Wo. fear that the Board's trouble® with their ne\f machine are not yet at>" an end, but ati any rate it has been established beyond doubt that for securing tho water required for the niodern steamships wliicfy visit the port, the Boafll did right wheA they, decided to discard the pipe of. the- old method for the bucket of the nevf, and if Mr Baynes had done nothing moro than secure that important alteration, wo should consider thai' his tehti of office been productive of great good. Into tho routine work of Ilia department during the last three years it Would be useless, even if it were possible, for us to enter at present, but nobody who has followed his reports at the various meet-' ings of the Board will he disposed toj deny him the virtues of thoroughness and conscientiousness in all he lias taken in hand. We are well aware that the 1 possession of those two qualities alone is not) sufficient to ensure success, but those who want more proof of the departing engineer's ability than they have had under their own eyes for the past yealfe may be willing to attach some value to the fact that his services have, been' secured for the supervision of harbour, works .on a scale to which South Canterbury is a total stranger, and that ho is* returning to a locality in which lie commenced .his professional carebr and in which his capabilities presumably best known, and, we are glad to sajr, appreciated,. ! '