STEWART, JAMES (1832-1914) was born in Perthshire and received his education there. He served his engineering articles and was chief assistant to P. D. Brown, Perth. In 1859 he came to Auckland in the Joseph Fletcher, started practice as a civil engineer, and shortly gained a premium offered by the provincial government for a design for the Auckland waterworks. In conjunction with Samuel Harding, he surveyed the line for the Drury railway. In 1862 he was appointed engineer to the Auckland city board, but in the following year he received a militia commission and was sent to Sydney to acquire two towing steamers for the Waikato river service. He carried out special works in Waikato and was appointed with Harding as engineers for the Auckland-Drury railway. The work was stopped for want of money in 1867, and Stewart became inspector of steamers for the Government. He designed the Bean Rock lighthouse and the light in the Ponui pass. In 1872 he was appointed resident engineer for the Auckland-Mercer railway, and two years later for the whole of the railway works in Auckland province. Afterwards, in private practice, he built the Thames and Rotorua railways and the Te Aroha county tramways and (with Ashley Hunter) laid the Auckland tramways and designed the pumps for the Calliope dock. He was a strong advocate of development by railways and an active member of the Auckland League. Stewart died on 12 Feb 1914.

Cycl. N.Z., ii; N.Z. Surveyor, Mar 1914; N.Z. Herald, 13 Feb 1914.

Reference: Volume 2, page 170

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