TALE OF AN IDLE TUG

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1005, 23 June 1930, Page 10

TALE OF AN IDLE TUG

VAIN VIGIL FOR THIRTY-SIX YEARS For 36 years a tug maintained by the City of London Corporation has remained idle in the Thames at the foot of Tower Bridge, waiting for a ship to run amok. It came into “ser- ' ice” with the opening of the bridge in 18£'4. The reason was that those opposed to the bridge feared that vessels passing underneath the bascules might foul the piers, and as a consequence a special clause was inserted in the Tower Bridge Bill, providing tor the tug. The story of the tug’s idle years was told recently by Mr. A. M. Nortier, chief clerk in the Town Clerk's department, Guildhall, who is retiring under the age limit, and who was entertained to luncheon by the Court of Aldermen. The Lord Mayor, on behalf of the Court, presented Mr. Nortier with a gold watch as a mark of appi-eciation of his services to the corporation. “I took up my duties,” said Mr. Ncrt'er, “40 years ago as clerk of the Bridge House Estates Committee. When the Tower Bridge project was mooted it met with opposition much akin to that offered the corporation’s later scheme for a St. Paul’s Bridge. "So perfect has been the hydraulic machinery for raising the Tower Bridge bascules that there has never been any delay, and no ship has ever been held up.” One of Mr. Hortier’s "discoveries” was that his committee was paying-income-tax which it should not bs doing. As the result of his action the committee has to date been saved the sum of £170,000.