John Carruthers (engineer)
John Carruthers (21 June 1836–2 September 1914) was a British engineer and economic theorist from a Scottish literary family. He was born in Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland on 21 June 1836.[1]
He worked on railway construction in Canada, America, Russia, Mauritius and Egypt before being recruited by the Premier of New Zealand Julius Vogel for his great Public Works policy of the 1870s which emphasized railway construction and immigration. He was made Engineer-in Chief of the new Public Works Department, responsible for railway construction. He resigned in 1878 after the new Minister of Works (James Macandrew) effectively demoted him to having charge of the North Island only.[2] However, he continued to be a consultant on New Zealand projects until his death.
In the 1880s he was resident in Venezuela, where he was involved in a major construction project, the Puerto Cabello and Valencia railway, which opened in 1888.[3]
References[]
- ^ Mullenger, George. "John Carruthers". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ Noonan, Rosslyn J. (1975). By Design: A brief history of the Public Works Department Ministry of Works 1870-1970. Wellington: Ministry of Works (Crown Copyright). pp. 8–13 & 40–41.
- ^ "Obituary: John Carruthers". Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 198. 1914.
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