PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.—SECTION H. 
(Engineering and Architecture. ) 
. THE GEORGE STREET TRAMWAY, 
By HENRY DEANE, M.A., M. Inst. C.E., F.L.S., &c. 
(o—-o—__—__—_— 
I uucu regret to have to announce that Mr. Sulman, who, as you 
are aware, had accepted the office of president of this section, 
has suffered an injury to his head, which necessitates complete 
rest, and precludes him from undertaking the duties attached to 
this chair. This unfortunate accident has prevented him from 
‘preparing the address which he had contemplated on the Federal 
City of Australia, and which, being one of the topics of the 
day, many of us were looking forward to with much interest. 
‘As I was thus called upon at so late an hour, as it were, to 
preside over this Section, I felt that one could not leave out 
the Presidential Address, without incurring for myself and Sec- 
tion H some degree of reproach, although I had stipulated on 
acceptance of the chair that I should not be expected to deliver 
one. I therefore looked about for some subject with which my 
mind was pretty well saturated, and which consequently required 
little preparation, and this I found in one that has been in New 
South Wales productive of more abuse and ill-feeling on account 
of alleged inexcusable delay in its completion than any other 
for some years past; I mean the George and Harris-street 
tramway. This work, which has been favoured with super- 
abundant criticism of all sorts, ignorant and ill-natured, has 
recently been opened for traffic, and now that the latter is suc- 
cessfully running, and the receipts flowing in beyond all ex- 
pectation, nothing but words of praise are heard. 
A few remarks on the history of Sydney tramways will not 
be out of place. 
In most cities where tramways have been introduced horse 
traction is first resorted to, and the conversion to some 
mechanical system takes place at a later period. In Sydney 
this preparatory stage may be said to have been absent. It is 
true that more than twenty years ago the Government laid down 
a horse tramway in Pitt-street, but it was voted ‘a nuisance, and 
