Leslie in his 95th year recently one at the Inst links with Tsambard Kingdom Brunel and the—palmy lays of railway construction in this country is broken. By birth Londoner, us was also his father, Charles Robert Leslie, R.A, who was well-known in his day' asa painter and an illustrator of books, Bradford Leslie was an American, extraction, Bradford was aporentieed at the ase of 16 to Brunel]
ved his venal fee of 1,000! consideration of ©. R. Leslie's painting him a picture oF two, Brunel was then completing the Great Western Railway, and Leslie became, before all things, specialist in bridge building.
Two of his earliest jobs were! as assistant engineer on the Chepstow Bridge in 1851 and as resident engineer on the famous Saltash Bridge where he had to superintend the construction, launching and sinking by the aid off compressed air, of the 85 cylindrical caissons of the central pier. Before the bridge was finished he returned to London and was entrusted among other things with the inspection of the material for the "Great Eastern." At the launch of that] vessel in 1850 he was Brunel's assistant and was afterwards associated with that great engineer In the same year he first Indian appointment, rin charge of bridges en the Eastern Bengal Railway to which Brunel was consulting engineer.
There he superintended the build-
River Bridges on caissons founded the pneumatic process. After a brief stay in England he returned
of the Bengal Eastern Railway, with special charges of the Goalundo extension and of the bridge over the Gorai River. The Gorai Bridge was Leslie's first great achievement in India, and it by anew boring gear of his own invention that the caissons were in the shifting bed of the Gorai River.
Another grea! achievement was the Bridge cross the between Calcutta and Howrah, Hooghly this bridge Leslie solve? for first time the problem of thevwing roadway over a great cial river, subject to "bores" from the sea and to terrible floods from the Iand, and at the same time a road way' which must be frequently broken to permit the passage of Inrge ships. As municipal enzince: of Calcutta he also completed the water supply and drainage works which were then in progress, Irrigation in Punjab It is perhaps a good omen for the future agriculture in India that almost immediately after the arrival of India's agricultural Viceroy, Lord Irwin, the great canal headworks at Suleimanke for the irrigation of the Punjab were opened. The Viceroy himself had intended to officiate but was prevented from doing s0 by a bad feverish cold, so the Governor of the Punjab' acted in his absence, Lord Irwin, in a message: of regret at his enforced absence, gave his blessing to the project in the following eloquent passage: 'May the waters that will now be released carry in their course happiness, security and a greater sense of self-respect to thousands of cultivators' homes." At the time of the opening a tablet was also unveiled—by the Governor commemorating the names of some of many officers whose energy and devotion to duty have contributed to bring this great work to} completion.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.