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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Mr. James Edward Fulton

Mr. James Edward Fulton, M. Inst., C.E., the Manager and Locomotive Superintendent of the Manawatu Railway, was born in Otago on the 11th of December, 1854, and was educated in that province chiefly by private tutors. He is the second son of the late Hon. James Fulton, M.L.C., of this Colony, who for many years prior to the date of his elevation to the Upper House represented the Taieri constituency in the House of Representatives. The subject of this notice obtained some technical knowledge in wood and iron shops, and for nine months in 1873 had sole charge of the engine and machinery of a larga flax-miil. At the end of that time Mr. Fulton was offered and excepted a cadetship in the Public Works Department under Mr. John Carruthers, engineer-in-chief, and accordingly on the 16th of January, 1874, he entered on these duties Mr. James Edward Fulton at Wellington, passing the Junior and Senior Civil Service Examinations shortly afterwards. Having served four years as a cadet, he was appointed in January, 1878, an assistant-engineer of the Public Works Department. He also passed the necessary examination and obtained the certificate of New Zealand Authorised Surveyor, dated April 20th, 1878. In November, 1880, he resigned his position in the Government service to engage in private practice, but before leaving the Department he was sent to the Bay of Islands, Auckland, to take soundings of the harbour and make a re-survey of part of the railway there. Shortly after his resignation, he was employed by the chief surveyor of Hawkes Bay to undertake some city re-surveys. In the beginning of 1882 he was sent to Auckland by the directors of the Kaihu Valley Railway Company to make a preliminary survey and estimate of the cost of that proposed railway. In August, 1882, he applied for and obtained the appointment of resident engineer in charge of the construction of the Palmerston-Waikanae section of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway under Mr. H. P. Higginson, chief engineer. Five years later, while still in the service of the Company, he acted as referee, and was called upon to review the various schemes for the water supply and drainage of Palmerston North. Mr. Fulton held the position of resident engineer in the Wellington and Manawatu Railway from August, 1882, till August, 1889, when on the death of his brother, the late Mr. A. R. W. Fulton, he was appointed to his present positions. He has evidently taken a very keen interest in all matters connected with his profession, and is ever on the alert to give his company the benefit of his inventions and improvements. Herewith is given an illustration of an admirably contrived telephone switchboard, as effective as it is
Mr. Fulton's Patent Switchboard.

Mr. Fulton's Patent Switchboard.

handsome, and as simple in manipulation as it is intricate in appearance. This was invented by Mr. Fulton, and is in use in his office. By a very simple movement he can either cut himself off from communication altogether, thus connecting his assistant with all correspondents, or he may leave one, two, or more stations in direct communication with himself. By another ingenious contrivance page 352 be can single out any station for connection with a special wire, leaving all the others in the ordinary connection, This is, of course, a very great convenience for long distance connections. Mr. Fulton has been associated with the introduction from America of the first compound locomotives which have been used in New Zealand, and which are now running with high efficiency on the Manawatu Railway. On the 6th of December, 1881, he was elected an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, England, and on the 28th of November, 1888, he was elected a Member of the same. Mr. Fulton has also been for some years a Member of Council of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors.