BELL, CHARLES NAPIER, was the son of James Stanislaus Bell, the British superintendent of Bluefields, Central America. He was a pupil with Bell and Miller (Glasgow), for whom he assisted in surveys of the Tay, the sewerage of Edinburgh and the Glasgow graving dock. He came to New Zealand in 1871 on behalf of Brogden Brothers and after completing their railway works was engineer to the Christchurch drainage board (1876-83), the Lyttelton harbour board (1878-85) and the Westport harbour board (1885-93). He was for a while chief engineer in New Zealand for the Midland Railway Co., and he constructed the Napier breakwater. Bell died on 3 Jan 1906.

The Press, 4 Jan 1906.

Reference: Volume 1, page 44

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