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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Nelson, Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts]

Civic Institutions

Civic Institutions.

Mr. James Kennedy , the Manager of the Greymouth Borough Council's gasworks, took charge originally in the year 1888, when the works belonged to the Greymouth Gas Company, from which they were bought by the Corporation in the year 1900. Mr. Kennedy was born in London, in the year 1856, and was educated at the Catholic school connected with the Oratory of Brompton. He landed in New Zealand in 1875, and served six years at the Christchurch gasworks, where he gained much practical knowledge in his business. Mr. Kennedy then went to Invercargill, where for six years he held various positions in the Corporation gasworks. He was then appointed to the management of the Greymouth gasworks, and did much to place the company in a flourishing position. Mr. Kennedy was the first in New Zealand to use slack coal entirely for gas-making, and he has by that means produced excellent results. The idea has been followed by various gas companies, and has resulted
Mr. J. Kennedy.

Mr. J. Kennedy.

in large savings to all interested. Mr. Kennedy is married, and has a grown-up family of four sons and two daughters.

Mr. William Ryan has had charge of the Greymouth Fire Brigade since the year 1903. He was born in 1864 in Victoria, Australia, came to New Zealand with his parents at an early age, and settled in Greymouth, where he went to school. Mr. Ryan afterwards worked for Mr. D. McLean, merchant for fifteen years, and began business on his own account in 1899. He married a daughter of the late Mr. William Sullivan, of Greymouth, in the year 1895, and has three sons and two daughters.

The Greymouth Water Works Pumping Station stands about half a mile out of the town, on the bank of the Grey river, and adjoins the railway line. The building is of wood and iron, and stands on a concrete foundation. The plant consists of two forty-two horse-power gas engines, each of which provides a set of triple ram pumps, eight inches in diameter, and capable of lifting 15,000 gallons each an hour. The pumps draw from a well twenty-five feet deep, and the river water filters through a gravel bed, six feet deep, and laid for five or six chains in the river. The water thus pumped is lifted to a reservoir, 287 feet above the level of the station, on the hillside, whence it is page 551 conveyed by eight-inch and nine-inch mains, into the borough. About eight hours' work a day for one pump is usually sufficient to maintain a full reservoir.

Mr. Charles McQueen , Engineer-in-Charge of the Greymouth Water Works Pumping Station, is the second son of Mr. C. McQueen, of the well-known engineering firm of Kincaid and McQueen, Dunedin. He was born in the year 1865 in Dunedin, and was educated there at the High School. Mr. McQueen learned engineering at the works of his father's firm, and remained there for several years. He has since worked on many large pieces of machinery, and erected the first
Ring, photo.Mr. C. McQueen.

Ring, photo.
Mr. C. McQueen.

Sew Hoy dredge. Mr. McQueen also put together the first two current-wheel dredges on the Clutha river, and, later, was manager and engineer of the Talisman dredge for two years. He afterwards returned to Dunedin, where he was for some time employed in connection with the erection and working of battery and mining plants, among which were the Golden Site Battery, Wilson's river, and a machine at Preservation Inlet. Mr. McQueen then went to Tasmania, where he worked on tin mining machinery; he erected engines on the Zeehan silver fields, on the east coast, and was employed by the Exploration Company, for which he superintended the building of the first tin dredge. Mr. McQueen subsequently returned to Dunedin, and in 1900 removed to the West Coast, where he was employed by Mr. W. Roberts, engineer, who superintended the erection of various dredges. In May, 1903, he was appointed to his present position. Mr. McQueen married a daughter of Mr. John Anderson, of the firm of J. Anderson and Co., dairy factory machinery manufacturers, Dunedin, in the year 1887, and has, surviving, four sons and two daughters.

The Greymouth Public Library is provided with the leading English and colonial newspapers and periodicals, and residents are allowed the use of the reading room free of charge. The lending library contains over 3000 standard works in all branches of literature, and fresh books are added from time to time. The library is the property of the corporation, and the Borough Council took control of the institution, on the completion of the new Carnegie library wing of the Town Hall buildings, in 1905.