Ashley John Hunter
Ashley John Hunter (1854-1932)
1934 Obituary [1]
ASHLEY JOHN HUNTER, eldest son of John Agrippa Hunter, merchant, of London, was born at Paddington on the 14th April, 1854, and died at Auckland, N.Z. on the 28th May, 1932.
After being educated at Coventry, and afterwards at the Merchant Taylors' School, London, he went to New Zealand, and in March, 1872, entered the Public Works Department as a cadet under the late Mr. John Carruthers, M.Inst.C.E. After a short period spent in the drawing office at Wellington he was engaged for 6 years on the design and construction of the Auckland-Puniu Railway under the late Mr. James Stewart, M. Inst. C.E.
In January, 1879, he was transferred to Patea, Taranaki County, in independent charge of the construction of railway lines, bridges, etc.; and towards the end of 1880 he was appointed Resident Engineer on the construction of the Waikato-Thames Railway and the Hamilton railway-bridge.
In November, 1882, he resigned this appointment and engaged in private practice in partnership with Mr. Stewart. The firm carried out the construction of the Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway, and were consulting engineers to the Te Aroha Gold Mines and the Napier Waterworks.
Mr. Hunter then engaged in private practice on his own account, and carried out the design and installation of several large coal mining plants on the west coast of New Zealand. He was also appointed by the N.Z. Government to several Royal Commissions dealing with engineering matters in the Dominion.
Mr. Hunter was elected as an Associate Member of The Institution on the 4th December, 1883, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 14th January, 1908. He was for many years a Member of the Advisory Committee of the Council in New Zealand, and served from 1929 to 1932 as the Member of the Council resident in that Dominion.
He married in 1878 the second daughter of the late James Halyday, of Auckland, who survived him, and by whom he had two sons.