IV. H. G. McKINNEY. 



in some cases for the supply of gas or of electric light, and 

 even the construction of tramways, has been carried out 

 by the local authorities of the cities and towns, and there 

 is a healthy emulation to keep the management of such 

 works efficient and up to date. All this is done without 

 any assistance or any interference from the Government. 

 Business is, in fact, carried on in regard to both the con- 

 struction and management of these works as it would be 

 done by large private concerns, and the officers who are 

 directly responsible, are chosen with the greatest care and 

 remunerated in proportion to their duties and responsi- 

 bilities. The public roads throughout the United Kingdom 

 are under the management of local authorities ; but while 

 in England and Scotland these authorities appoint all. their 

 own officers, in Ireland the County Surveyors, as they are 

 termed, or the County Engineers as they should be des- 

 cribed, are appointed by the Government under a system 

 of public competitive examination. 



The construction of navigation canals has been carried 

 out by private or local enterprise, and the management of 

 these canals and of river conservancy is left either to 

 private companies or to Boards or Trusts. It is necessary 

 to remark that in the United Kingdom the whole question 

 of river conservancy is in an unsatisfactory state through 

 the want of suitable legislation. This is a subject which 

 I referred to at some length in a paper presented to this 

 Society in 1887, and I understand that little, if anything, 

 has been done by way of remedy since then. 



To sum up the position of affairs in the United Kingdom 

 so far as the construction of large engineering works is 

 concerned, we find that works of all kinds are constructed 

 and managed by private enterprise, or by boards, councils, 

 or trusts, and that the functions of the Government in 

 regard to all such works are simply to investigate whether 



