CIVIL ENGINEERS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 131, 20 February 1918, Page 8

CIVIL ENGINEERS

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

MR. S. A. R. MAIR ELECTED

PRESIDENT

' The annual general meeting of the New Zealand Society of Qivil Engineers was hold iu the Concert Chamber

: yesterday. : Mr. J. Blair Mason, president, occupied the chair, and there \ was a representative attendance of . over fifty delegates from all parts of New Zealand. The Mayor (Mr. J. V. Luke, '. C.M.G.), who was received with, applause, extended a welcome to the delegates. He said that he felt it was an honour to the city that once agajn the. society should be in conference here. The activities of engineers under existing conditions vrere somewhat limited, but he would urge concentration for a great forward move at the end of the war. He referred to the sacri- ;' .fices made by members of-the society in connection with the war. Their services were very much esteemed. There were no works of'a great character in ' progress in, New Zealand at present, ■ but ..that was to say that the engineering • ability 'to -carry them out :' was not in tho country. Ho did not . wish to individualise, but so far as tho Government service was concerned ho

felt it was well endowed with the nee-

essary genius for the carrying out of any works when the opportunity offered. ' In conclusion, Mr. Luke briefly referred to the disabilities from which

engineers in New Zealand suffer, and contended that the engineering jiiofcs-

sion had never been on a proper basis in the Dominion.

On the motion of the chairman, a vote of thanks to $h'e Mayor v/as passed with- enthusiasm..

The report of the council stated that th6 'number of members on the register on March 31, 1917. was 134, the

number of associates was 57, and tl.e .number of students, 7; total. 108. Of this number one was deceased (Mr. T. S. Miller, luvercargill) and ono member and one associate had been struck off the- register. Since the above date there had been elected one member, 10 associates, and one student, or, in all, 12, making the totalmembership to date 207. Two applications had been adjourned for examination and for other reasons. The balance to credit at tho bank was, on February 15, £86 16s. 3d: A further sum of £80 has been invested in Wajr Loan certificates, maturing iu five years to the value.■ of £100. This sum has been taken from ordinary revenue."

During the year letters were ad- . dressed to tho Ministers of Public [Works and Lands with reference to the question of these Departments of the' Government advising upon, aud carrying out, works for local authorities. . Copies of the Town Planning 8i11,'1917, were obtained and placed iu the hands of the members of the coun- ■ cil, who will take such steps as may bo deemed necessary to guard the interests of the society. Circular letters were addressed by the secretary to all county and borough councils (227) in '-. the Dominion offering, on behalf of tho society, to assist them., if they should 60 desire, in the selection of their per- • manent engineering officers. A large number of councils acknowledged and :' thanked the society for this offer, and, in a few cases, the council's Executive Committee was asked to assist by making recommendations. . .Election of Officers. The election of officers resulted as under:—President, Mr. S. A. E. Mair; vice-president, Mr. A. J. Paterson; hon. secretary, Mr. F. W. Purkert; . members of the council, Messrs. Charleg Banks, J. Blair Mason, and AY. J. Eoche. Some interesting Papers. The presidential address delivered ; by Mr. J. Blair Mason, A.M.1.C.E., waa a finely studied and lucidly set out paper on "Tho External and Internal Communications of the Dominion, their ; Development and, Relationships." The ■ paper dealt in an interesting manner

■with the roads, railroads, and waterways of the Dominion, the part they lad played in the development of the , country, and the possibilities of extending such facilities in the busy future as trade and population will demand. Mr. G. T. Murray, A.M.1.C.E., read some notes on the patent "Lightning Crusher and Pulveriser," a machine that is established at Devonport, Auckland, for the pulverising and transforming into manure of the refuse of ■ the place. At present the machine was i treating the refuse of a population of 9000 (1760 houses), actually between . fiix and seven tons a week. After being put through the pulveriser tho stuff Bold readily at 7s. 6d. per ton. The ! joints that commended the machine were: (1) Its low capital cost (£1000); (2) small annual maintenance charge ■ (£ls for every 1000 tons treated); (3) can be worked by one labourer , ; (4) absence of offensive smells: (y>) small area of plant; (C) value of product for manure, which on analysis showed that in nitrogenous phosphites nnd potash it was superior to good farmyard manure. Mr. Murray stated that the cost of working the machine ran out at Is. sd. per ton. Tins and paper had to be removed from the rubbish before it was admitted to the pulveriser.

Mr. John Wood, A.M.1.C.E., read a. paper on "Floods in the Auckland District." The title scarcely explained the true purport of Mr. Wood's interesting paper, which must be closely studied by all engineers concerned in -water Bchemes or those who are located in districts where floods are possible. Mr. Wood's point lay in the small amount of progressive thought which Was given to the volume of water that (i watershed was capable of accumulating in relationship to the size and strength of the bridges erected over Watercourses within that -watershed. He pointed out tho ceaseless regularity with which bridges were washed away in certain districts in New' Zealand and how much of the resultaM loss could be prevented if the designing engineer we to take into more serious consideration the accumulated water power the watershed was capable of generating for tho destruction of bridges.

Papers on "Wood Pavements." by Mr. E, S. Bountlnvaite, M.1.C.8.'; "The Hawera Borough Loan WorksConstruction of Tar AFacaciani Eoadways and Footpaths," by Mr. John Sturrnck; "Tha Treatment of Metalled Roads in Eltham County," by Air. F. Basham; and "Notes on Eoad C'onstmetion in the Orchard District Between Nelson and Motueka," by Mr. J. AY. Spence.. were referred to tho Concrete Rorids Committee of the society, which is to meet this morning.