GRAND NATIONAL MEETING AT CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8, 24 August 1907, Page 12

GRAND NATIONAL MEETING AT CHRISTCHURCH.

No less than 114 applications were received by the Auckland City Council for the post of electrical engineer for the city, at a salary of £5OO a year. These came from all parts of the Empire, and by command of the Council, the number was reduced to ten by the < ity Engineer. The Council went through the qualifications of these, and at last week’s meeting, by ballot, selected Mr. Alexander Wyllie, at present in charge of the Electricity Department of the Borough of \\ alsall. an important industrial town in England with a population of 93.000. Air. Wyllie received his early education at Prince Albert ColAdelaide (South Australia), where he gained a University scholarship in the year ln ISSS he graduated in arts and in IS9I in science. At the same time he was the winner of the Argus Engineering Scholarship, vauled at £OOO. In 1895 he was appointed Borough Electrical Engineer to the Corporation of Walsall, which appointment he has held ever since. Mr. Wyllie’s experience covers a long connection with municipal tramway matters. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and jf the Incorporated Municipal Electrical Association, and is fully qualified in every way to carry out the duties required. Mr. Wyllie will probably leave England in about four weeks.

Sole survivor from the wreck of the scow Surprise, which went ashore, during a heavy gale, on the rocky coast south of Tairua. .Jackson, who is a stalwart young Norfolk Islander, was left clinging to the rigging after the scow struck a rock l>etween Slipper Island and the mainland. The scow drifted towards the shore, and when about 150 yards off. Jackson decided to swim for it- Shaking hands with a seaman named Johansen, who was also clinging to the rigging, he dived over, and was caught in th? breakers and dashed on shore. He climbed half-way up the cliff, but could not get any further, ami had to remain where he was from Sunday morning till Monday afternoon, when he managed to get up and find his way to a settler’s house. All his companions were drowned.