ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



By H. G. McKlNNEY, ME., M. Inat. C.E., 



On a comparison between Government Initiative and 



Private Enterprise in the Construction op 



Engineering Works in various Countries. 



[Delivered to the Engineering Section of the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, 

 May 21, 1902.'] 



Gentlemen, — I have to thank you for the honour you have 

 conferred on me by electing me as your Chairman for the 

 current year. In past years, my duties frequently took 

 me away from Sydney for considerable periods, and owing 

 to this I have been but an irregular attendant at the meet- 

 ings of this Society and of the Engineering Section. Your 

 generosity in overlooking this enhances the compliment to 

 me and adds to my obligations to you. 



My predecessors have, in their opening addresses, given 

 you a series of able and instructive statements of the pro- 

 gress of engineering science and engineering works, the 

 address being sometimes confined mainly to one branch of 

 the profession. I propose to depart from the usual course, 

 and to describe in outline the procedure adopted in various 

 parts of the world, and particularly in the British dominions 

 and the United States, in the initiation and management 

 of large engineering projects. 



It is scarcely necessary to state that the subject is a 

 very large one, and one regarding which volumes might be 

 written ; so that it is impossible for me to do more than 

 touch on the salient features of the question, and to refer 

 to some of the most instructive illustrations. It is obvious 

 that the systems which are most conducive to the develop- 

 ing of engineering enterprise, or for fostering (to quote the 



1— May 21, 1902. 



