Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 14 June 1902, page 15


NEW ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF.

MR. C. S. R. PALMER APPOINTED.

At the meeting of the Executive Coun-cil on Wednesday, Mr. C. S. R. Palmer, te engineer for sewage and town water supply, and wo, since the suspension of Mr. T. C. Hodg-son, has been carrying out the duties of engineer in charge of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, was appointed to the position of Engi-neer-in-Chief, at a commencing salary of £1,000 a year.

Mr. Palmer was educated in the Go-vernment Engineering College at Rurki, India, a college which is maintained especially for the training of officers for the Public Works Department of that country. Ho was the top man of the year 1878, and gained the gold medals forinathematics, and the best practical

design, and also the prize for civil engi- .

neering. He entered the Public Works Department of India, as assistant engi-neer in October. 1878, and severed his connection with it on a retiring allow-ance in April, 1894. During the years 1885 to 1887, he was in England studying questions of water supplies, sewerage, and architecture under Sir Alexander Binnie, lately engineer of the London County .Council, and Mr, Spiere, the Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, having been specially sent by the Government of India to acquire prac-tical knowledge on these subjects. # On his return, he was appointed assistant secretary for one year. This position ia I similar to that of TJnder-Secretary in this

State. In India, however, it is essen-tial, in consequence of different condi-tions, to select professional officers to fill these positions, and in order that the executive engineers may have a grip of the head office work. For a year also, Mr. Palmer" was Assistant Engineer-in Chief. During his last five years of ser-vice in that country, he was executive engineer, a position equivalent to that of engineer in charge or a branch in this State. Mr. Palmer came to Western Australia in 1894. and in October of that year joined the civil service, as an assis-tant surveyor in the Public Works De i partment ; and, having passed through

the railway construction branch, was ap-pointed engineer for roads and bridges, and engineer for harbours and rivers in August. 1897. In August of the follow, ing vear. he surrendered the charge of the harbours and rivers branch to an-other officer, and assumed the position of engineer for general water sunply. in ad-dition to the position of engineer for roads and bridges. During the seven months that Mr. James Thompson, the engineer for railway construction, was absent from the State on leave. Mr. Pal-mer took charge of that branch in addi-tion to his own. This was at the end «of 1900 and at the beginning of 1901; and in the latter vear he was for three and a half months placed in charge of the Fremantle Harbour Works.