Report of the Board of Consulting Engineers, Vol. 1

STATEMENT OF MR. WALLACE, OCTOBER, 1905.

The Chairman. I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Wallace, whom you know personally or by reputation. Since Mr. Wallace's time on this occasion is limited, it has been suggested that there be placed in Mr. Wallace's hands the report of the remarks that have been previously made before this Board by Mr. Stevens, Mr. Maltby. Mr. Dose, and Mr. Dauchy, and that Mr. Wallace understand that it is the wish of the Board to question him concerning The Project.

Is it the desire of the Board to-day to ask Mr. Wallace any particular questions? What is the desire of the Board?

Mr. Hunter. Mr. Chairman, you might explain to Mr. Wallace what is so important a matter in the mind of every member of this Board. We would be glad to have the benefit of his experience and his advice as to what he considers to be the Maximum Quantity; and, secondly, what length of time he contemplates would be required for the installation. Those are points of great importance.

The Chairman. In reading over the remarks that have been made and the questions that have been asked the gentlemen named, he will very quickly see that those are the points upon which much stress has been laid.

Mr. Hunter. This is the point.

Mr. Wallace. Any knowledge or anything that I have is at your disposal, and if there is any assistance I can render it is at the disposal of this Board of Consulting Engineers. Of course, naturally, I realize that your time is short. I did not know it until so late yesterday that I could not communicate with your Chairman. That is the reason I am here to-day. The study I made during a year's residence went into a great many matters connected with The Work.

This is entirely voluntary.

Of course you gentlemen understand that the men under me, from Mr. Dauchy down, saw the one detail that was assigned to them; that the scheme of operations, as it was formulated in my mind or was in process of formulation as month after month went by and new difficulties came up and old difficulties were removed, was naturally a scheme that was never formulated in documents or in written form, and you will naturally realize that any one Engineer having the burden of that work and its ultimate success upon his shoulders would be more concerned with the consideration of what he considered fundamentals, and in general the shaping up of his work along those lines, than in the purely technical solution of what he considered the minor details, which would naturally fall into their logical places during the after progress of the work and after the general plan had been finally decided upon. But in order to get at certain details, in order to get to certain conclusions in the consideration of larger, broader questions, it was necessary for me to do a great deal of detail work and to watch a great many detailed operations simply that they might be the basis of reaching a final conclusion later on. Now, naturally, if it would please this Board of Consulting Engineers, I would be perfectly willing, and I would desire, to present my final views in a regular, formulated way.

The Chairman. With maps and drawings?

Mr. Wallace. I have no maps or drawings.

Mr. Hunter. Mr. Chairman, perhaps you would explain to Mr. Wallace our difficulties here in respect of the Limitation of Time. Will you explain to Mr. Wallace the Limitation of Time?

The Chairman. The members of this Board who have come to us from Europe, and indeed all of the members of the Board, were told at the time of or shortly after their appointment that it was supposed by the Commission that a period might be occupied by this Board in reaching a conclusion. In that statement, which was made to all the members, it was indicated that the month of September might be used for preliminary studies; the month of October for a visit to I—, and the month of November for working out final conclusions. Two months of that time have now elapsed, and the Board is now in the Third Stage of its work.

Mr. Hunter. We want it badly this day a week.

Mr. Wallace. All right; I will give it to you, with this understanding—that you will sympathize with the difficulties of a Brother Engineer in preparing so important a paper as that in such a short space of time.

Mr. Hunter. We want you to sympathize with the difficulty of Brother Engineers, Mr. Wallace, who are now in the third month of absence from their work.

The Chairman. The Secretary will hand you the remarks that have been made before the Board by Mr. Stevens, Mr. Maltby, Mr. Dose, and Mr. Bertoncini; also the statement of Mr. Dauchy.

Mr. Wallace. Of course it goes without saying that all these questions with regard to hydraulics, etc., you will get from other sources.

Mr. Hunter. I do not think Mr. Wallace need trouble himself about those things.

Mr. Wallace. Yes, sir.

Mr. Stearns. There are a great many questions contained in the hearings of these different gentlemen, and possibly Mr. Wallace may be a little bewildered with the number of them.

The Chairman. He will see what is important.