THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1907. ENGINEER HOIST WITH A POLITICAL PETARD.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8860, 21 October 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1907. ENGINEER HOIST WITH A POLITICAL PETARD.

For twenty-three years the Wellington Harbour Board has had as its executive head a man who falls little short of being a genius—Mr W. Ferguson. Secretary, Treasurer and Engineer rolled into one of a great organisation, he has accomplished work which has made Wellington the finest shipping port in the Southern Hemisphere. Nowhere in Australasian waters has a harbour scheme so comprehensive and complete in character been devised and carried out to such a pitch of perfection. While engaged upon the multifarious and onerous duties devolving upon him, Mr Ferguson has yet found leisure to plan out in conjunction with Mr Carruthers a vast sewerage scheme for the City of Wellington, and, as consulting engineer, to see it carried into effect. Yet this man is probably less known to the citizens of Wellington than the average tradesman. He is rarely mentioned in the metropolitan press, and has never sought publicity. A desire for the plaudits of the public has never been manifested in the ramotest degree; his aim has been to advance the well-being of the city through its magnificent barfa jur, and the results of his labour speak for themselves, and speak tvumpet-tongued. For some time past, however, this engineer, whose services, were he J employed in connection with a work ! such as the Panama Canal, would | probably bring him a salary of four times that which he receives from the Wellington Harbour Boaz'd, has been girded at and insulted by some of those whose sole claim to seats upon the Board is their partisan sei'vices to the Liberal Administration, which have thus been cheaply rewarded. These members would never have reached the responsible position through the medium of the ballot box, and yet they have power to seriously interfere with the welfare of the city, and the whole provincial districts contiguous thereto. It had always been considered the privilege of Mr Ferguson to advise the njn-expert Board upon matters requiring the opinion of an expert, and so long as the engineer was permitted to do this tho commercial

community and citizens generally could feel that their interests were in safe hands. But all of a sudden — at a meeting of the Board on the Ist inst. — Mr Ferguson received a snub from the Chairman', which no capable man with the slightest spark of dignity in his composition would submit to. He was practically told to speak when he was spoken to, and to keep his advice until it was asked for. What right had he, a mere servant of the Board—if one may freely interpret the views of the layman Chairman—to offer advice on any matters connected with the administration of the Board until called upon to do so! It was not to be tolerated by the wiseacres controlling harbour affairs.

On Friday last the engineer "regretfully" sent in his resignation, and now the Board is biting its thumb-nails, and muttering "Who'd 'a thought it!" With works in progress and works projected, representing present and prospective sums totalling close upon half a million of money, the Board finds itself in a ssrious predicament; and the verdict of the public will be "serve it right!" But alas! the public will have to pay dearly for the stupidity of the political nominees who have been the cause of the trouble. During his twenty-three jears' service Mr Ferguson has not made a single mistake iu all his great engineering undertakings. But the Harbour Board has contrived to commit an irreparable blunder that will doubtless in the end involve the city in great additional administrative expenditure, and probably in enormous loss in the carrying out of the works designed by Mr Ferguson without Mr i Ferguson's supervision. It is evidently time that a strong public protest was made to protect such organisations as the Wellington Harbour Board from the evils of political parasitism.