162

REPORT FROM THE PROVINCIAL ENGINEER

TO

HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT OF CANTERBURY,

UPON THE RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT.

Railway Office,
Heathcote Valley,
July 21, 1863.

Sir,—In accordance with your request, I have the
honor to report upon the proposed reorganization of
the Public Works Department.

The business of the Public Works Department
has long since out-grown the machinery provided for
its execution, and it is a matter for very serious con-
sideration how the department can be reorganised on
an efficient footing without at the same time saddling
the revenue with a costly permanent staff.

The most pressing difficulty in the management
of the public works is the absence of an administra-
tive head of the department. The duties appertaining
to a Minister of public works have been hitherto
discharged to a certain extent by the Provincial
Secretary; but it would be simply idle to suppose
that an officer whose time is fully occupied with the
multifarious duties attendant on the Secretary’s
office can make himself practically acquainted with
the details of the business of the Public Works
Department. Hence two serious evils arise. On the
one hand, in the majority of instances the Govern-
ment have no alternative but to fall back upon the
recommendation of the Provincial Engineer: thus
making him an administrative as well as an executive
officer; whilst on the other hand serious delays in
the prosecution of the works are of constant occur-
rence for the want of some one to represent the
Public Works Department in the Executive Council.

A simple and practical remedy appears to me to
be the placing of the department under the charge
of a Minister of Public Works, who should be a
member of the Provincial Council, with a seat in
the Executive. This officer should have the assist-
ance of a secretary, who must be an engineer by
profession, and whose office would be a permanent
one; and of a head clerk, who would be the accoun-
tant to the department. Subject to the control of
the Minister of Public Works would be the three
principal divisions of the Public Works Department,
viz.:

Surveys.
Roads and Bridges.
Buildings.

The Survey Department, under the management
of the Chief Surveyor, would embrace

The topographical survey.
The road survey.
The geological survey.

The department of Roads and Bridges, under the
charge of the Provincial Engineer, would comprise
the sub department of

Roads and Bridges.
Railways.
Telegraphs.

The department of Public Buildings, under the
charge of the Provincial Architect, would include
The maintenance of existing public buildings.

The erection of new public edifices.

The management of the Provincial Govern-
ment estates.

This plan will be better understood by reference
to the following diagram:-

I take for granted, in sketching out this plan for
the management of the public works, that the ordi-
nary business connected with the roading of the
settled districts will be handed over to local boards,
each having its own road surveyor; the Provincial
Engineer acting as consulting engineer to the local
boards, but taking the entire management of what
may be called the pioneer works requisite for open-
ing up of new districts in which the public works
will be paid for out of land revenue instead of local
rates, as must for the future be the case in those dis-
tricts which have already received their full share of
the land fund. So soon as this change shall have
been made the staff at present employed in the
Provincial Engineer’s Department may be dismissed,
leaving the Minister of Public Works to recommend
for re-appointment any gentleman whose assistance
it may be desirable to retain on the personal staff of
the Provincial Engineer, which, however, need only
consist of a survey assistant, a draftsman, and a
copying clerk.

The works of the Lyttelton and Christchurch
Railway will of course remain under the sole charge
of the resident engineer until their completion, when
the management of the line will devolve on the
Provincial Engineer.

It is scarcely necessary for me to point out that in
the event of the adoption of these suggestions those
members of the Provincial Engineer’s staff whose
services are dispensed with would have a just claim
on the consideration of the Government, in propor-
tion to their length of service.

I have the honor to remain, sir,
Your obedient servant,
E. DOBSON,
Late Provincial Engineer.

Christchurch: Printed at the Lyttelton Times Office, Gloucester Street,
by W. REEVES and R. LUCAS, Official Printers to the
Provincial Government of Canterbury.