Death of Mr Clark, C.E.
We regret to learn from the Sydney Morning Herald of the death of Mr William Clark, C.E., the well known hydraulic engineer, the news of which reached Adelaide by telegraph from home. It may be remembered that Mr Clark was in Australia for the purpose of advising as to the drainage of Adelaide and other towns, when the Corporation of Christchurch took advantage of his presence in the southern hemisphere to consult him as to the drainage of that city. The Corporation of Wellington being also in considerable difficulty as to its drainage, thereupon obtained the services of Mr Clark to report upon the scheme then before the Council. In the result Mr Clark submitted a new and greatly improved scheme, and then followed the wearisome squabbles with which the ratepayers have since been nauseated. Referring to the announcement of Mr Clark’s death, the Sydney Morning Herald says:- “Although regrettable, the announcement is not altogether unexpected. Private letters some time ago informed his friends that he had been ill for some months with an attack of jaundice, which came on when staying at the seaside. He had the best medical advice, but it was of no avail, and he grew weaker under the inability to obtain nourishment from his food. It is probable that his long residence in India undermined the vigor of the organ whose weakness proved fatal to him, and his work in Australia was certainly in no degree responsible for his last illness. He enjoyed the climate of these colonies, and was not unfavourable to the idea of making his permanent residence here. He had a high opinion of the future of Australia and not only invested his own earnings in our securities, but recommended them to his friends as one of the safest investments to be found. He did not live long enough to see the execution in Australia of any of the works he recommended, but we lose in him a valuable consulting engineer, whose advice would have been useful in consequence of the local knowledge he had acquired.”
Tags: Newspaper Waterworks
