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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Otago Harbour Board

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Otago Harbour Board

Otago Harbour Board. As early as the year 1854—only about six years after the foundation of the settlement of Otago—a petition was presented to the Otago Provincial Council, then in its first session, setting forth the inconvenience and loss to the mercantile community caused by the landing of goods at Port Chalmers, and showing how desirable it was that all vessels entering the harbour should be able to get as close as possible to Dunedin. About the same time the General Government was petitioned to remove the custom house from Port Chalmers to Dunedin, and the request was accordingly granted. The Superintendent of the province of Otago was requested by resolution of the Council in 1855, to place a sum of money on the estimates providing for the survey of the upper harbour, and to direct the pilot to bring up, all vessels as near to Dunedin as possible. Till December, 1859, there was no harbourmaster for the port, the duties being performed by Mr. Logie, the collector of customs. Captain Thomson was, however, appointed harbourmaster at the above date, and commenced his duties on the 16th of January, 1860. The control of the port was vested in the Provincial Council of Otago, which voted money from time to time for the construction of jetties, and an effort was made to dredge certain channels so as to permit vessels to approach the town of Dunedin. About 1866, a dredge, the “New Era,” was procured, and for several years she was employed in cutting various channels, several of which, however, were afterward shown to have silted up. Meantime the city of Dunedin had developed considerably in point of population, and the business of the port had enormously increased. It was not, however, till early in the year 1873 that an angilation was commenced among the most energetic citizens, with a view to have the control of the harbour vested in a board of trustees, whose special duty should be the efficient management, and, above all the development of the port. The first public meeting having such objects in view was held on the 4th of March, 1873, Mr. E. B. Cargill
Port Chalmers.

Port Chalmers.

page 116 being in the chair; and Messrs Fish (Mayor of Dunedin), Dench (Mayor of Port Chalmers), E. B. Cargill, J. Rattray, P. C. Neill, J. A. Walcott, J. Miller, G. G. Russell, J. McNeil, and H. Tewsley were appointed a committee to promote the formation of a harbour trust, and devise a plan for providing the necessary endowment. Many meetings were held to further these objects, and on the 1st of May, 1873, the committee discussed the subject with certain members of the Provincial Council, the result being that the appointment of a board with power to assume sole control of the harbour was recommended. At a public meeting of citizens a week later, Mr. H. S. Fish. M. P. C., was requested to take steps to secure the passing of a Provincial Council ordinance providing under “The Harbour Board Act of 1870” for the constitution of a board. Owing, however, to the short session of the Council in that year, nothing was done, and six months later—September 4th, 1873—an influential public meeting took place, when resolutions affirming the desirableness of harbour improvements, and particularly the deepening of the channel so that vessels might come up to Dunedin, were passed. A sub-committee, consisting of Messrs Robert Gillies, J. Davie, A. Thomson, W. N. Blair, J. McGregor, and G. M. Barr—generously placed their services at the disposal of the committee without fee of reward, and after the lapse of a reasonable time the engineers' reports were available. In March, 1874, the sub-committee circulated a final report on the subject, in the shape of a pamphlet of twenty-seven pages, containing their recommendations and the full text of the engineers' reports, together with plans and diagrams bearing on the subject. On the 27th of April, 1874, another public meeting of citizens expressed itself on the necessity for increased facilities for the transit of goods, suggesting that the best way to accomplish this object would be by deepening the channel, and demanding that every vessel entering the heads should be brought up to the city, if possible. The effect of this agitation was shown in the ordinance passed by the Provincial Council, constituting the Otago Harbour Board, and the Governor's assent having been gazetted on the 30th of June, 1874, the first members were duly elected. The Board held its first meeting on the 6th day of July, 1874, when His Honour the Superintendent was in the chair, and there were present also, Messrs D. Reid, A. Mercer, H. Tewsley, H. McNeil, J. Davie, C. S. Reeves, A. Thomson, and K. Ramsay. Mr. Robert Stout, now Chief Justice Sir Robert Stout, who was the first solicitor to the Harbour Board, acted for a short time as the Board's secretary, Mr. J. L. Gillies being appointed on the 15th of September, 1874; and the first engineer, Mr. D. L. Simpson, was appointed on the 1st of December of the same year. The Board at once took in hand the increase of wharf accommodation, and a contract was let before the end of the first year to extend the Rattray Street jetty, 1,140 feet, at a cost of over £12,500. As only vessels of twelve feet draught could come up to Dunedin wharf, the Board deemed it advisable to order an additional dredge, which cost nearly £20,000. Dredging operations were energetically proceeded with for a number of years, during which Dunedin had to be satisfied with the coming and going of smaller craft only, larger vessels stopping at Port Chalmers. The proposal to construct the Victoria channel was brought forward about the year 1877, and this great and important work is still in progress. A depth of sixteen feet at low water is now secured, so that vessels drawing twenty feet to twenty-one feet of water are now regularly brought up to Dunedin with the tide. The Victoria channel is to be deepened to a depth of twenty feet at low water and widened from 120 feet to 150 feet. From statistics compiled by the late Mr. J. L. Gillies and issued on the 3rd
Photo by Mr. S. H. Rawson. U.S.S. Co.'s S.S. “Warrimoo,” drawing 21 feet at Dunedin Wharf.

Photo by Mr. S. H. Rawson.
U.S.S. Co.'s S.S. “Warrimoo,” drawing 21 feet at Dunedin Wharf.

H.M. Gun Boats at Dunedin. Photo by Mr. S. H. Rawson.

H.M. Gun Boats at Dunedin. Photo by Mr. S. H. Rawson.

page 117 of October, 1893, it appears that the navigable channel, from the entrance of the harbour to Dunedin, is fourteen miles and a half in length. The entire area of the harbour is 12,750 acres, the depth of the water ranging from nothing to sixty feet at low water. There is good and safe anchorage, and channels are marked by buoys and beacons—starboard, red; port, black—from the heads to Dunedin. At the entrance of the harbour is the Taiaroa lighthouse, which is under the control of the Marine Department, and is situated on the east side of the entrance. There is a fixed red light and two leading lights, one red and one white. On the end of the mole, which has been run out to a distance of 4,100 feet, there is a green light. The staff of the establishment at the heads consists of a signal-master, resident pilot, and a boat's crew. The signal station is connected with Port Chalmers and Dunedin by telephone. The tug service in the harbour includes the screw-tug “Plucky,” of 45 nominal horse-power, and the paddle-tug, “Koputai,” of 120 nominal horse-power. Port Chalmers is six miles and a half from the heads, the ruling depth of water on the bar being thirty-four feet at low water. Inside the entrance, the channel has a depth of twenty feet at low water; thence to Port Chalmers the minimum depth is twenty-two feet. There is one light-ship in the lower channel and a guide light at Pulling Point. In Koputai Bay there is good anchorage and there are also mooring buoys. The wharves connected with the railway at the port have 5,100 feet of berthage, and the depth of water ranges from fifteen feet to twenty-six feet at low water. The sheds on the wharves belong to the railway department and to private firms. The Port Chalmers graving dock is under the control of the Otago Dock Trust; its measurements are 328 feet long, sixty-eight feet wide above, and forty-one feet below; width at the entrance, fifty feet; depth on the sill at ordinary tides, seventeen feet, and at high spring tides, nineteen feet. Attached to
Shipping at Rattray Street Wharf.

Shipping at Rattray Street Wharf.

the dock is a workshop containing engineering tools and a steam-hammer suited for the heaviest class of work. There are also sheerlegs capable of lifting eighty tons. Any sized vessel up to the limit draught of water can be berthed. The distance from Port Chalmers to Dunedin by the Victoria channel is eight miles. A half-tide wall five miles in length, and 14,250 feet of walling round endowment and reserves for basins, have been constructed, and a length of 5,400 feet has been faced with wharves, having depths of water ranging from twelve feet to twenty-one feet at low tide. Vessels drawing twenty-one feet of water can load and discharge cargo at the Dunedin wharves, and can be berthed at present up to 450 feet in length. To give further depth and length is only a question of easy dredging, the bottom being very soft silt. On the Dunedin wharves there are twelve large transit sheds for receiving goods landing or for shipment, free of charge. There are eight steam-cranes with a lifting power ranging from two tons to ten tons. The Harbour Board has issued loans as follows: In 1874, £250,000 at six per cent, was authorised, the endowment security being 100 acres, all under water. In 1881, there was a further loan of £100,000 at six per cent., and in 1882–3, another of £200,000. In 1885, it was resolved to provide £150,000 additional to complete the Board's necessary works, and to provide for the consolidation of all previous loans into one. A “Consolidation Loan Act” was passed in 1885. The total indebtedness of the harbour on bonds in £687,400. The revenue which in 1874 stood at £14,600, had increased in 1893 to £42,840, and in 1902 was £70,000. The Harbour Board possesses a very large area of reclaimed land, about forty-five acres of which are leased; and from this source, the Board dervies a revenue of nearly £10,000. On this land some of the finest buildings in
S.S. “Sealda,” 5382 tons, Discharging at Dunedin.

S.S. “Sealda,” 5382 tons, Discharging at Dunedin.

page 118 Dunedin are erected. In addition to the above there are about twelve acres on the foreshore at Dunedin, and fifteen acres at Ravensbournce, available for lease. Thirty-eight acres of foreshore are at present (1903–4) being reclaimed by dredging, and further large areas will be undertaken in the near future. The Board has 580 acres at the north of the heads, now let with house and out-buildings, on an annual tenancy of £35 per annum. There are also twenty acres of land purchased for quarrying purposes at Kilgour's Point, half an acre at the signal station, Port Chalmers, and four acres at Taiaroa Heads, where the pilot station is located. Of late years the Board has made important additions to the Dunedin wharves and sheds; and has greatly improved the depth at the wharves and approaches. The most important works now being carried out are the construction of a stone training wall in the lower harbour above Harrington point, which, when extended, will improve the curved channel at that part, giving better water, and a straighter course. In the upper harbour the powerful 1250 ton hopper barge “222” is kept at work deepening the Victoria channel. The material is conveyed to a dumping pit on the foreshore, and thence pumped by the sand-pump “Vulcan” through a long line of pipe on to the Board's endowments, where valuable areas are being reclaimed, and put on the market for lease. Arrangements are also in hand for the better lighting of both the upper and lower harbour. The members of the Otago Harbour Board for the year 1903 were: Hon. H. Gourley (chairman), representing the boroughs of Caversham, South Dunedin, and St. Kilda; Messrs James Robin, J. T. Mackerras, T. Ross, and the Hon. D. Pinkerton, M.L.C., representing the Government; the Hon. T. Fengus, representing the Chamber of Commerce; Messrs J. Simpson and W. Dawson, representing the City of Dunedin; John Thomson, E. G. Allen, M.H.R., and John Watson, representing the borough of Port Chalmers; A. C. Begg, representing the boroughs of Mornington, Roslyn, and Maori Hill; W. Barclay, representing the boroughs of North-East Valley and West Harbour. The secretary, treasurer, and engineer of the Board is Mr. T. H. Rawson, M.I.C.E., and Captain D. McCallum is the harbourmaster and piermaster.
The Hon. Hugh Gourley , J.P., M.L.C., Chairman of the Otago Harbour Board, was born in the parish of Ballin-ahinch, County Down, Ireland, in 1825. Mr. Gourley was attracted to the Australian gold diggings in 1852, and spent ten years in Victoria. He had some experience of gold mining, and was for several years working at his trade as a saddler, before crossing over to New Zealand. After twelve months on the goldfields of Otago, he settled in Dunedin and commenced business as a saddler. Subsequently Mr. Gourley went into the coaching business, and ran a line of coaches to and from Port Chalmers, and was one of the first to run cabs in Dunedin. In 1874 he added undertaking to his livery business. Mr. Gourley has been connected with local politics for many years; in 1881 he became a councillor of the borough of St. Kilda, of which he was mayor for thirteen years in succession. He entered the city council in 1885, and was elected mayor for
Wharf and Shipping at Port Chalmers.

Wharf and Shipping at Port Chalmers.

page 119 the year 1888–9, and again for 1896–7. He has been for many years a member of the Otago Harbour Board, and now occupies the position of chairman. Since the inception the Charitable Aid Board, Mr. Gourley has been a member of that body, and has for over twenty years been one of the Benevolent Trustees. He is also a member of the Dunedin Drainage Board. Mr. Gourley was called to the Legislative Council on the 22nd of June, 1889. In 1850 he married a daughter of Mr. J. Johnston, of County Down, Ireland, and has four sons and four daughters.
Morris, photoHon. H. Gourley.

Morris, photo
Hon. H. Gourley.

Mr. James Robin , one of the Government representatives on the Otago Harbour Board, was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, where he learned the business of coach-building. For a few years he turned his attention to engineering, and worked with the firm that built the steamer “Pirate” (the first steamer to trade between Dunedin and Melbourne), and did a considerable portion of the fitting up of the machinery of that pioneer in her line. In 1854 Mr. Robin left Scotland to try his fortune in Victoria; where for seven years he worked at coachbuilding, and was one of the founders of the well known firm of Stevenson and Co., afterwards Stevenson and Elliot. Mr. Robin and a partner bought a twenty-ton schooner in 1863, with the object of trading in Fiji, but the excitement caused him to change his plans and come to Dunedin. For two years Mr. Robin and his partner traded between Dunedin and the adjacent ports; but, in 1865, Mr. Robin retired from that mode of life and laid the foundation of the coachbuilding business which has ever since been carried on by him. Since his settlement in Dunedin Mr. Robin has devoted a large portion of his time to the affairs of the city. One of the first of his public services was in connection with the widening of Princes Street. The citizens were much dissatisfied with the arbitration award made in that respect, and Mr. Robin and two other gentlemen, by getting the award set aside, were instrumental in saving the city the large sum of £11,000. Mr. Robin was a member of the first Railway Board of Appeal appointed by the Government. With the late Mr. James Macandrew and others Mr. Robin took an active part in the endeavour to prevent the abolition of the Provinces. He was a member of the City Council for several years; and was the first chairman of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board—a position which he occupied for over ten years. Mr. Robin was one of the members of the first Licensing Committee for Bell Ward, and chairman of the committee; and was also for fourteen years a member of the Dunedin school committee, and its chairman for a considerable period. He has for nearly fifty years been a member of the Order of Oddfellows, and joined the Manchester Unity in 1854. He has been treasurer to the Otago District Lodge for thirty years.

Mr. James Taylor Mackerras , who for many years has been a prominent member of the Dunedin Harbour Board, is founder and senior partner of the firm of MacKerras and Hazlett. He was born in 1827 in Aberdeen, Scotland, and was educated at Grantown, Inverness-shire, where he commenced his mercantile career as a boy in a country store; after five years business experience in London, he came out to Geelong, Victoria, in September, 1851. Mr. MacKerras went into commercial life in that town and continued in business till coming to Otago in 1862. Arriving in Port Chalmers in that year with a partner, he established the well-known business which has for so long been conduct under the style of MacKerras and Hazlett. He was the first member elected to the Dunedin harbour board in 1885. Since then he has sat continuously on the board. He has been chairman of the finance committee for some years, and generally has used his influence and abilities to further the interests of the port. For many years he has been an active member of the chamber of commerce, and was its president for the year 1884–5. Mr. MacKerras has greatly assisted in the development of the industries of Otago, notably as a director of the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Company, Ltd., and other companies. Mr. MacKerras was married in 1860 to a daughter of Mr. Murdo Jaffary, of Budget Cawdor, Nairnshire, Scotland, and has six daughters and one son.

Mr. Thomas Ross , J.P., one of the Government members of the Otago Harbour Board, and sometime Mayor of West Harbour, is a well known draper in Princes Street, Dunedin. For a number of years he was identified with the borough council of West Harbour as a councillor, and for several consecutive terms he occupied the Mayor's chair. Mr. Ross has also taken an active part in many other local matters, and has been commodore of the Ravensbourne yacht club, and president of the Ravensbourne boating club and football club.

The Hon. David Pinkerton , who is one of the Government members of the Otago Harbour Board, is referred to in another article as a member of the Legislative Council.

The Hon. Thomas Fergus , a Member of the Otago Harbour Board, represented the district of Wakatipu in the House of Representatives for the years 1881–93. He has been many years a member of the committee of the Agricultural and Pastoral Society; he was one of the originators of the Agricultural Hall, and has been chairman of the committee since its inception. Mr. Fergus took a prominent part in connection with the Otago Jubilee Exhibition, and was vice-president and chairman of the executive and general committees. He has been a member of the Dunedin Jockey club for many years, and had a seat on the education board for a lengthened period. He is also a director of several local companies, notably the New Zealand Minerals company, Kaitangata Railway and Coal commpany, Standard Fire and Marine Insurance company, and is chairman of directors of the Hartley and Riley Dredging company, Bakery Flat Hydraulic Sluicing company (Waipori), Moonlight No. 2 Hydraulic Sluicing company (Wakatipu), and many others. Mr. Fergus is further referred to at pages 83–84 of the Wellington volume of this work, as having been a member of Sir Harry Atkin-son's Government.

Hon. T. Fergus.

Hon. T. Fergus.

Mr. Edward Fawns Duthie , one of the members who represnt the city of Dunedin on the Otago Harbour Board, was elected to that body on the 21st of January, 1904. Mr. Duthie, who is a native of Otago, joined the firm of Messrs James Duthie and page 120 Co., general carriers and contractors, in 1887, but this business was subsequently amalgamated with the New Zealand Express Co., of which Mr. Duthie is now the Dunedin manager, and also is one of the company's directors. Mr. Duthie held the position of secretary to the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association for some time, and he successfully carried out many important operations; in fact, it is mainly to his efforts that the Society owes its present flourishing and prominent position. Mr. Duthie is one of the directors of the Otago Agricultural Hall Company Limited, and also a member of the committee of the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society. He has been officially connected with many public functions, such as the Industrial Exhibition of five or six years ago, the organisation and despatch of the Fourth Contingent to South Africa, and the reception of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, now Prince and Princess of Wales.

Mr. William Dawson is one of the two members who represent the city of Dunedin on the Otago Harbour Board. He is referred to in other articles as a former Mayor of Dunedin, and also as a former member of Parliament.

Mr. John Thomson , one of the repre-sentatives for Port Chalmers on the Otago Harbour Board, was born at Dalkeith, Scotland, in 1844. His father, the late Mr. John Thomson, one of the pioneers of Otago, whom he accompanied to New Zealand, in 1848 in the ship “Blundell,” was for many years Sheep Inspector in Otago, died at his residence, Dalkeith, Port Chalmers, in 1895 Mr. Thomson was educated at Port Chalmers, and afterwards followed mercantile pursuits for some years. On the breaking out of the gold rush he gave up business, and was for some time at Gabriel's Gully, and, later on the West Coast. He returned to Port Charmers and joined the Customs Department at the Port, but retired from the Government service during the retrenchments of 1880. Mr. Thomson then entered business as a licensed victualler, and carried on as such until 1892, when he disposed of his hotel interests. Since then he has carried on a commission and general agency business at the Port. During the many years of his residence at Port Chalmers Mr. Thomas has been always identified with the progress of the town, and has taken a leading part in all municipal matters. He was a member of the Borough Council for six years, and Mayor for the years 1902 and 1903. During his Mayoralty the handsome rotunda in commemoration of the accession of King Edward the Seventh was erected. For over ten years he has represented Port Chalmers on the Harbour Bad. He has been a member of the Dock Trust since 1899, and was acting-chairman in 1903. Mr. Thomson is a member of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, Hospital and Benevolent Trustees, and of the Port Chalmers school committee. He has been an Oddfellow since 1866, and has gone through all the chairs, and became a Freemason in 1881.

Mr. J. Thomson.

Mr. J. Thomson.

Mr. E. G. Allen , one of the Port Chalmers members of the Otago Harbour Board, is elsewhere referred to as member for Chalmers in the House of Representatives.

Mr. John Watson is one of the members who represent Port Chalmers on the Otago Harbour Board. He was born at Pete[gap — reason: illegible] head, Scotland, and is a son of Captain Watson, dockmaster at Port Chalmers. Mr. Watson was a member of the borough council of Port Chalmers for a number of years, but retired when he revisited his native country in 1900, after an absence of thirty-six years. He was Mayor of Port Chalmers from 1893 to 1895, and during that period many important improvements were carried out in the borough. Mr. Watson is chairman of directors of the local gasworks, and was elected to a seat on the Otago Harbour Board in 1903. For over sixteen years he was connected with the volunteers, first in the Naval Brigade, and afterwards with the L Battery, until its disbandment. Mr. Watson is referred to in another article as a general draper and outfitter, and as an exporter of frozen rabbits.

Mr. Alexander Campbell Begg , J.P., Member of the Otago Harbour Board, was born in 1839 in the parish of Liberton, near Edinburgh. Educated at the Edinburgh High School, he entered an insurance office. On completing his course of study, and after serving two or three years, he came out to New Zealand in 1859 by the ship “Alpine,” landing at Port Chalmers. For three years prior to the opening up of the Otago Goldfields, Mr. Begg was in the office of Messrs. Young and McGlashan, merchants; he then commenced farming at Clutha, remaining on the property four years. The original land, purchased at this time, now forms part of his station known as “Williamburn.” Returning to Dunedin in 1866. Mr. Begg became manager for a pastoral firm, Messrs. Dougtas, Alderson and Co., and in 1870 established his present business. For many years Mr. Begg has been prominent as a citizen, and has done a great deal more than his share in relation to local governing bodies. In Roslyn, he filled the civic chair for eight years consecutively, and still holds a seat on the Council; for nine years he was a member of the Otago Education Board, and at the time of writing is a member of the Harbour Board, Charitable Aid Board, and the Dunedin Licensing Committee; of the Otago Acclimatisation Society he is president, and had previously filled the office of vice-president for fifteen years. A member of the Prebyterian Church, Mr. Begg has a seat on the Board of Property, and is convener of the finance committee of the Synod of the Church of Otago and Southland. He is an ardent prohibitionist, and a member of the local Prohibition Council. In 1869 he was a candidate for the House of Representatives for Dunedin City, but was defeated. Mr. Begg was married in 1867 to a daughter of Mr. Peter Clarke, of Mossfield, Clinton, and has five sons and three daughters.

Mr. A. C. Begg.

Mr. A. C. Begg.

Mr. William Barclay, J.P. , who represents the Borough of West Harbour and North-East Valley on the Otago Harbour Board, was born at Brechin, Forfarshire, Scotland, and for a number of years carried on a bookselling and publishing business in Edinburgh. Owing to failing health, caused by a too close application to business, Mr. Barclay, on the recommendation of his medical adviser, left Scotland and came to Otago in 1881. He settled at Ravensbourne shortly after his arrival and started his present business, which has been progressively successful. Mr. Barclay was for six years continuously Mayor of the borough of West Harbour, where many improvements were undertaken and carried out during his term of officer. He has been a member of the Otago page 121 Harbour Board for fourteen years, and a Justice of the Peace for several years. Mr. Barclay is a trustee of the Ravensbourne Savings Bank. He has been chairman of the Ravensbourne school committee, and has taken a prominent part in all other matters connected with the prosperity and progress of his district. He has been twice married, and there is a family of two children.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photoMr. W. Barclay.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo
Mr. W. Barclay.

Mr. George Simpson , for some time a Member of the Otago Harbour Board for the city of Dunedin, was born in Scotland, and came to Dunedin by the ship “Timaru” in 1879. For some years after his arrival he worked as a journeyman at his trade, and in 1886 entered business on his own account as a builder and contractor. Mr. Simpson was a member of the first Drainage Board, but retired with several other members, as a protest against the way the affairs of that body were conducted. He was nine years a member and two years chairman of the Arthur Street school committee. On the 3rd of December, 1903. Mr. Simpson was elected a member of the Harbour Board, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. John Carroll. At the biennial election on the 21st of January, 1904, his nomination was handed in five minutes too late, and was therefore declared informal.

Mr. Thomas Harold Rawson , M.I.C.E., Secretary, Treasurer, and Engineer to the Dunedin Harbour Board, and formerly engineer to the Westport Harbour Board, is the third surviving son of the late Dr T. E. Rawson, M.D., of New Plymouth. He was born in London, in 1851, came out to New Zealand in 1859, and was educated at the grammar schools of Auckland and New Plymouth, and at Nelson Colege. Mr. Rawson entered the Public Works Department as an engineering cadet in 1872, and was engaged on extensive road and railway works in North Otago and South Canterbury, and in the Wanganni, Manawatu, and Taranaki districts. He conducted exploration surveys over about forty miles of difficult country, and finally located the line, and supervised the construction of about thirty miles of railway in the Wanganui district. In 1891 he was transferred to Greymouth as resident engineer and engineer to the Greymouth Harbour Board, and while in that position he completed the Greymouth-Hokitika railway, and extended the Greymouth breakwater. Mr. Rawson was transferred, in 1894, to Westport as resident engineer and engineer to the Westport Harbour Board, and while so engaged he completed the railway line to Mokihinui, and carried out extensive harbour works, including training walls, dredging, and wharves He was appointed to his present position in November, 1898.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo.Mr. T. H. Rawson.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo.
Mr. T. H. Rawson.

Captain D. McCallum , Harbourmaster and Piermaster for the Otago Harbour Board, was born in Argylshire, Scotland, and arrived in New Zealand from Victoria in 1861. He was gazetted Railway Piermaster for Port Chalmers in 1873; two years later he was appointed by the Harbour Board as Deputy Harbourmaster, and received his present appointment in 1893.