SPECIFICATIONS AND CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT 327 



one ij inch diameter knot, are considered defects, but in the description 

 of the grading a small percentage of such defects is allowed in the best 

 quality, with admission of a larger number in the lower qualities. These 

 rules and regulations are laid down in a very comprehensive book which is 

 issued by this Association. As both buyer and seller are guided by these 

 rules as translated by the inspectors of the Association, all disputes are 

 easily solved. Although perhaps this system might not exactly suit our 

 needs, some such formula might be agreed upon and brought into general 

 use. The unfortunate results of the present practice with its lack of 

 any system is not only confined to these difficulties already mentioned, 

 but is also the cause of unnecessary expenditure of private and public 

 monies. The cottage which has hard wear and few carpets has a 

 flooring | inch thick, while the mansion wiU have a floor of i| inch 

 or i| inch thickness which is thickly carpeted. It has often happened 

 that the doors and joiners' work of public buildings such as schools, 

 hospitals, workhouses, prisons and lunatic asylums have been pro- 

 vided at great expense under a stringent specification excluding sap 

 and knots, with similar extravagance in the timbering, when ordinary 

 quaUties admitting a full inclusion of reasonable sap and knots would 

 have been as serviceable. Again, it sometimes happens that, instead 

 of accepting trade thicknesses, which are all nominal, i.e. planed or 

 worked from the particular thickness asked for, fuU thickness when 

 finished is demanded. This is a greater extravagance than is at first 

 apparent, as it necessitates very much waste, since a 3-inch plank 

 is often necessary to provide a 2-inch finished thickness. Expensive 

 hardwoods are also often used with all defects ruled out, when substitutes 

 not so costly and admitting reasonable defects would be as ser\dceable. 

 It is obvious that some system is necessary which would meet the con- 

 ditions which arise in the United Kingdom. 



The question here raised is of vital importance in the timber, engineer- 

 ing, and building trades. This has been recognised by the authorities 

 concerned \vith aircraft production, and important principles have been 

 laid down which to some extent do regulate timber specifications so 

 far as they concern aircraft. This has been due to the investigations 

 and work of the British Engineering Standards Association. The con- 

 clusions so reached need, however, a wider appHcation, and indeed form 

 little more than a starting-point for the co-ordination and regulation of 

 timber specifications for all industries concerned, and for the establishing 

 of a standard scale of specifications which shall be recognised aU over the 

 country. 



