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A VETERAN ENGINEER.
Retirement of Mr. M. M.
Middleton.
Officers of the Engineer-in-Chief's and
Hydraulic Engineer's departments re-
cently met to bid farewell to Mr. Malcolm
Murdoch Middleton (head mechanical
draftsman) on his retirement from the
public service. Appreciative references
were made to the splendid services ren-
dered by the retiring officer in the
mechanical branches of the various de-
partments by the Hydraulic Engineer (Mr.
C. A. Bayer), the Deputy Hydraulic En-
gineer (Mr. T. A. Hicks), the Assistant
Engineer for Surveys (Mr. J. T. Furner),
the Chief Superintendent (Mr. R.
Gunner), the Assistant Superintendent
(Mr. W. Goss), the Accountant (Mr. A.
W. Pettit), the Chief Draftsman (Mr. C.
L. Almers), and Mr. L. G. Temple
(Draftsman in Charge). His fellow offi-
cers presented Mr. Middleton with a
morris chair with a suitably inscribed
silver plate attached, and a case of pipes.
Biographical.
Mr. Middleton altogether served 28 years
in the public service, having been engaged
for special work in connection with the
construction of the Happy Valley water-
works. The retired officer came of an en-
gineering family, his grandfather (Mr.
William Middleton) having received Royal
Letters Patent in 1790 to supply steam
none Help
MR. M. M. MIDDLETON.
engines, machines, and railway plant to
the British Government. His father fol-
lowed as owner of an iron foundry at Bir-
mingham, where Mr. Middleton was born
in 1853. His father then decided to come
to Australia. Young Middleton then
joined the Castlemaine Foundry and En-
gineering Company, where he served his
apprenticeship as a patternmaker, and
learned the different branches of the
trade. After having completed the practi-
cal work, he served in the drawing office,
designing, and making up estimates. He
then worked with his father, who had
established a practice as a civil, consulting,
and mining engineer at Bendigo and
Castlemaine, and they conjointly designed
and carried out many of the largest min-
ing plants for the Bendigo, Castlemaine,
Maldon, Dunolly, and other Victorian min-
ing districts; also for mining companies
in Queensland and Tasmania. With his
father he afterwards became a proprietor
of the Castlemaine Foundry and Engineer-
ing Company. Later he was engaged with
Messrs. Milliken & Gibson, consulting and
mining engineers, with whom he gained
extensive experience in the designing and
erection of important mining plant. He
then accepted a position as head drafts-
man and engineer with Langlands Foun-
dry Company, Melbourne. He remained
with that firm for five years, during which
time he was engaged in designing intricate
gold-mining and gold-saving plants for Vic-
toria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Wes-
tern Australia, New Zealand, and India.
He resigned the position with Langlands
to accept an engagement with David
Munro & Company, engineers and railway
contractors, of Melbourne, as works mana-
ger in charge of the engineering branch
of their business. During his two years'
employment with that firm he was re-
sponsible for several large railway works,
including the construction of the Princes
Bridge over the Yarra. On May 1, 1888,
he was induced to leave David Munro and
Co., and accept the position of head
draftsman with Messrs. G. E. Fulton and
Co., engineers and ironfounders, Ade-
laide, and designed and manufactured
many of the largest engines, winding and
pumping plants for the Broken Hill mines
and Western Australian and Tasmanian
mining companies. When slackness of
trade intervened, Mr. Middleton accepted
an engagement with Messrs. W. F. Massey
and Co., of Melbourne. He returned to
Fultons on trade improving, and then
spent two years in the South Australian
Government service on special work in
connection with the waterworks. James
Martin & Co., of Gawler, then offered Mr.
Middleton the post of chief draftsman in
their works, but after remaining with
them for two years he was asked by the
directors of Langlands Foundry Company
to return to them, and was on their pay-
roll for another 18 months, when the
works were closed down. The Broken Hill
Proprietary Company, then obtained his
services as their head draftsman, and he
designed several large items of plant. Owing
to failing health he was compelled to leave
Broken Hill, although offered a substan-
tial increase by the general manager (Mr.
G. D. Delprat) to remain in the com-
pany's service. On arrival in Adelaide in
March, 1899, Mr. Middleton immediately
re-entered the South Australian public
service in the engineering department.
Among the important works on which he
was engaged for the South Australian
Government were the Bundaleer, Pekina,
Gawler, Burra, Renmark, Loxton, Mill-
brook, Warren, Mount Gambier, Wool-
punda, and Tod River waterworks and
pumping plants, Glenelg and Port Ade-
laide sewage pumping plants, Light Square
and Port Adelaide produce depots, and the
design and supervision of the erection of
the Glanville pipemaking plant, with a
capacity of 60 tons for a day of six and
a half hours.
Mr. Middleton holds a certificate as a
member of the Victorian Institute of En-
gineers, and was for 11 years instructor
in the engineering class at the Adelaide
School of Mines.
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