54 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



damage or death to plants. I have no doubt whatever that 

 all the investigations were carried through in the most careful 

 manner, and that the investigators had in view only the object 

 of arriving at a just and equitable conclusion ; but I think that 

 Dr Lauder's strictures on our methods are too drastic. After 

 all, in the Selby case the scientific investigations merely con- 

 firmed the decision of the legal court which first tried the action, 

 and with the exception that the Commission found that "much 

 of the evidence" taken in this Court "would not stand the test 

 of scientific scrutiny," no fault seems to have been found with 

 the procedure there. Had the decision of the legal court been 

 reversed as the result of these investigations, the matter would, 

 of course, have assumed a somewhat different aspect. 



I cannot lay claim to an acquaintance with cases of this sort 

 such as Dr Lauder has no doubt had, but from my limited 

 experience of them I think I can say that Dr Lauder is too 

 severe in his assertion that in our Courts "the verdict depends 

 too much on the skill of the expert witnesses undergoing cross- 

 examination, and on the ability of counsel employed, and too 

 little on the real merits of the case." Dr Lauder's experience 

 may have been quite different from mine, but I can confidently 

 say that in the cases with which I have been connected I am 

 not aware of a wrong verdict having been given in a single 

 instance. On the other hand, I am doubtful if a tribunal like 

 the Selby Commission would always come to correct decisions 

 in cases of this sort. What better qualifications would such a 

 tribunal have to weigh up evidence and come to a decision on 

 matters of fact other than those in their own special sphere than 

 a judge or judges in a court of law? And it has to be kept in 

 view that there are many other points — legal and other — which 

 have to be considered in these cases besides the purely scientific 

 ones, such as the absolute amount of sulphur dioxide in the air. 

 I will give two examples from personal experience. In A 

 damage to plantations by smoke and fumes was alleged. There 

 was no doubt whatever that the trees had been severely damaged 

 in the vicinity of the source of pollution, especially as the pre- 

 vailing winds were favourable to the carrying of the smoke and 

 fumes over the area occupied by the plantations. But the 

 allegation was that not only there, but also over a large area 

 at a considerable distance from the source of pollution the 

 plantations had seriously suffered from the same cause. One 



