CHAPTER XXIII. RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND.
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CHAPTER XXIII
RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND.
Arriving in Christchurch, I found my father still occupying the office we had both been working in before I left for Australia. He was now over 80 years of age, and doing so little business, that he was about to give up the office in the South British Chambers. He retired, and I took over the office and furniture, put an advertisement in the papers, and in a few days had the prospect of future work. Sir John Hall, who had always been a very kind and staunch friend, immediately put work into my hands in connection with irrigation work on his estate.
The latter half of 1898 was occupied with water-race work in the Rakaia district, and numerous small land surveys. In January, 1899, I was able to send for my wife and family, and we were all very pleased to be together again. George, the eldest son, an engineer, had been employed on engineering and survey works in Victoria and New South Wales, and later on in erecting mining machinery on the Thames goldfields, and then on survey work in the South Island. Ernest and Charles had been on land in New Zealand for some years, when they went to Queensland, and joined the
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Colonial Sugar Refining Company, and later went to Fiji, where they were for many years.
In June I was engaged by the Timaru Harbour Board to lay out a railway from the breakwater to the quarries, and sent for George to come and help with the work. As soon as the line was laid out and specifications and plans prepared, tenders were called for and accepted, and George was appointed engineer, while I acted as consulting engineer.
I examined the river Waimakariri, and reported upon a proposed scheme to obtain power from that river near the railway bridge, for generating electricity for the supply of light and power to Christchurch. This would have been an excellent source of power. Unfortunately, the Waimakariri-Ashley Water Board had the right to take an unlimited supply for their water-races out of the river at Brown's Rock, five miles down the river from the railway bridge and opposed all efforts to allow any other public body to take water out of the river above Brown's Rock. Legislation was passed allowing the city to take water from the river, provided that it was returned into the river again above the bridge. That settled the scheme, as, in my opinion, any site above the bridge would have been far more costly, especially subject to the condition of returning the water into the river above the bridge.
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In 1901, January, I was appointed City Engineer, and took charge just at the close of the Christmas holidays. I held the position until August, 1921. During that term great changes had taken place in the city; from 40 miles of streets the mileage had run into 175, the population nearly doubled, and the borough of Sydenham had been incorporated with the city.
During my term of office I completed first the Sydenham water supply, and then the city water-works, comprising a reservoir on the Cashmere hills and pumping station at the foot of the hills, the pumps being driven by suction gas. The Sydenham water supply, which was finished first, was driven by electricity obtained from a steam engine fired by rubbish in the city destructor, which I also erected. I also erected a tar still, and commenced the laying of streets with tar macadam. Sixteen miles of streets were laid down in this manner, the cost being provided by the rates, without any assistance from loans. I built bridges over the Avon in Colombo street and Fitzgerald avenue, and over the Heathcote in Colombo street. As the terms of my engagement allowed private practice, I designed and supervised the erection of a bridge over the Waimakariri at the site known as White's bridge. On the whole I had a very busy and happy time during my tenure of office, and was always loyally supported by
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my staff and by the various committees. The works committee is the one which in municipal business had much to do with the City Engineer, and as I often had builders and contractors on that committee, and had been both myself, we understood each other, and I received much help and assistance from them in every way.
After the completion of the water-works there was no new work done, and the whole of my time was occupied in general maintenance of all the streets, works, and buildings. The General Government carried out the hydro-electric scheme at Lake Coleridge, and brought power to Christchurch. As I was not an electrical engineer I advised the City Council to make a separate department, and put an electrical engineer in charge. Mr. Stark, an American engineer, was appointed. He had just finished the Waipori scheme in Dunedin. He took charge and carried out all the necessary works and reticulations. My dream of seeing a perfectly smokeless city, if the Waimakariri had but been harnessed, as I had hoped it would be, was not realized; nevertheless, the Lake Coleridge power has been a great boon to the city, and to all Canterbury, and an immense saving in coal. At the time of writing the Lyttelton-Christchurch trains are run by electric power.
