TRIBUTE TO ENGINEER

Press, Volume C, Issue 29515, 17 May 1961, Page 16

TRIBUTE TO ENGINEER

Mr W. E. Lucy

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON. May 16. Tributes to the work of Mr W. E. Lucy, retiring chief engineer of the South Canterbury Catchment Board, were paid today by Mr E. H. McKillop, chairman of the Soil Conservation and Rivers’ Control Council, at a meeting of the council in Wellington. In the 15 years that catchment boards had been at work, river engineering in New Zealand had made remarkable progress and a big part had been plaved by Mr Lucy, said Mr McKillop. Faced with a number of badly willow-infested rivers to improve, with frequent and disastrous flooding in many parts of the district. Mr Lucy had gone to work on his own initiative in the development of new techniques. With the support of his board and the assistance of a keen and able staff, Mr Lucy was then able to give South Canterbury a degree of flood protection in advance of that achieved, in a comparable time, in most other parts of New Zealand. His retirement was deeply regretted by al! members of the .council. Mr McKillop said. He felt it would be equally regretted by all those who had had the pleasure of knowing Mr Lucy in his long and varied professional life, he said.