South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2186, 20 March 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1880.

It is stated that the Hallway Commissioners of New Zealand, are anxious to secure the services of Mr Thomas Higginbotham, formerly Engineer-in-Chief of Hallways in Victoria. This implies we presume, that the Commissioners arc by no means satisfied with the quality of the railway engineering talent, which is to bo found in the colony. At all events, it is not very creditable, nor complimentary to the Hallway Engineers of New Zealand that the Commissioners should be so solicitous about obtaining advice from Victaria. Some time ago it was thought proper to import a skilled engineer from (Treat Britain, for the purpose of improving the management of the railways of the North Island, and a good many colonists must still have a lively recollection of the dissatisfaction and disappointment that ensued. Whether the ex-Enginocr-in-Chief of Victorian Hailways is likely to prove a useful shining light that will expose the dark crevices of railway mis-manage-ment and shew a method out of the difficulty, is a question about which we entertain very serious doubts. Of the capacity of that gentleman for constructing broad-guage railways, and condemning the less expensive narrowguage lines, which have been adopted in New Zealand, we have a thorough conviction. It might be well for the Hailway Commissioners before offering a most unmerited insult to the engineering talent of this colony to ascertain why the gentleman whose services they are so desirous of obtaining relinquished his office of Engineer-in-chief of Victorian Hailways. That Mr Higginbotham has been an eminent engineer in his day there cannot be the slightest doubt, but it is well known in Victoria that his ideas as regards railway management and construction arc fossilised. Had Mr Higginbotham progressed with the times, instead of clinging tenaciousl} r to the old-fashioned and terribly expensive broad gauge system, it is possible that lie might still have been Engineer-in-Chief in that colony, and the Railway Commissioners of New Zealand would have no necessity to distress themselves over his vacant services. It is well known that some of the most expensive railways in Victoria —railways that to this day have never paid interest on the capital invested —were constructed under the auspices of the gentleman referred to. If we are not mistaken the secret of Air Higginbotham’s severance from the railway department of Victoria was his determined adherence to old and exploded notions regarding railway works, anti his absolute refusal to adapt his views to the circumstances of that colony. 'Why the Hailway Commissioners in their wisdom or zeal should have thought proper to look in the direction of this particular engineer for assistance wc arc at a loss to know, but we certainly think that their action, however kind to the gentleman whose services have long been “to let,” looks remarkably like a studied and most unmerited iiisulfc to the railway engineers of the colony.