Mr. Semple thanks the Builders.

Mr. Semple, who was greeted with applause, said that he had felt it incumbent upon him to attend, if only to say to the men who had built the viaduct, “Thank you, and well done, faithful servants.” Making special mention of the engineer in charge of the job, Mr. Haskell, he said that here was a case of a young New Zealander, who had never been out of the country, whose work would compare more than favourably with that of older engineers from other parts of the world. Under him there had been no troubles with the men; Mr. Haskell had merely appealed to the men to work with him. “I have come chiefly to thank them for their wonderful achievement,” he continued, “and I also want to express appreciation of the work of Professor Cull, the designing engineer, Mr. Newnham, the assistant designing engineer, Mr. G. A. Lindell, under whose supervision all the fabricating steel for the work was made, and the foreman of works, Mr. T. Robinson. The Chief Engineer of Public Works, Mr. John Wood, has a mighty task in charge of thousands of men. I am personally proud of the type of man associated with the public works of this country.”

Mr. Semple referred to the progress that had been made in the equipment, organisation, accommodation, and the type of work itself, in the last twelve months. In all this Mr. Wood had been the guiding spirit.

Not Profit-making.