MUNICIPAL ENGINEERING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1582, 28 October 1912, Page 5

MUNICIPAL ENGINEERING.

VIEWS OP ME. W. H. MORTON. Municipal Engineering' was the subject of an address given by the City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morion) on Friday evening .before members of the I.C.S. Students' Association. In opening, Mr. M-orton touched upon the wide range of work covered by municipal engineering. As tho duties of a municipl engineer were of priiuo importance to the community, it was to bo regretted that- in Wellington there was no engineering school where students could gain the knowledge of theory which was so essential. The only place •in New Zealand where students could receivo the necessary instruction was the Canterbury College Engineering School. It was also to bo regretted that in New Zealand, there was no qualification for municipal engineers by examination. Dealing with road construction, Mr. Morton pointed out that the ordinary macadam surfaco had now become out of date. Very soon it would be entirely confined to residential streets. The best materials for forming surfaces for the heaviest traffic wero compressed asphalt and wood blocking. Blocks laid with close joints and treated as in "Wellington would last for at least thirty years. Experience had shown this to be the case. Compressed asphalt was equally durable. Tar-bound surfaces were good for secondclass roads. In Wellington an immense amount of pioneer work had still to be done before tho main thoroughfares could be much improved. Ono particular work which required attention was. provision for dealing with the storm water of ttlie city. Hitherto this had been neglected. Prevention of dust was closely bound up with road construction. To put down permanently constructed roads was the best method of combating tho nuisance, and other useful methods were tar spraying and water sprinkling, but tho lastnamed method never gave complete satisfaction to cither the public or the engineer. Mr. Morton mentioned the obvious reasons for this. Coming to the question of town planning. the lecturer said it was well to remember the difference between this scheme and what was known as town improvement. There could be no question about the advantages to "be secured by tho operation of a properly drawn up town-planning scheme, but lie could not see how it was possible for any such scheme to benefit this city. On the other hand, a scheme for improvement would undoubtedly result in material benefit to Wellington. To rectify the mistakes and omissions of the past was going to cost Wellington thousands of pounds, but it would have to be done if the city continued to grow.