258' REPORT — 18G1, 



used and that this was one. Dr. Eddy aUuded to the difficulty now felt in 

 securing the iron plates on the sides of the vessels without weakening them by 

 perforating holes ; and he mentioned a plan of screwing the plates within a rail- 

 shaped frame, which he said he had been encouraged by Mr. Faii-baim to lay before 

 the Section, and which he thought would obviate the difficulty. 



On a Brick-making Machine. By Petek Efkeetz. 



On a Perambulator and Street Railway. By Jokn" Hawoeth. 



The author proposed a central rail, having in_ it a groove for a small guiding 

 wheel, similar to tnat of a perambulator. By this simple contrivance, an omnibus 

 coidd be kept upon the two outer and level rails without the necessity of flanges 

 to the wheels. The plan was cheap beyond comparison, costing only £1000 per 

 mile. A length of route had been laid down in Salford for some months, and had 

 oiven great satisfaction ; it had been ridden upon by many persons, engineers and 

 others, who foimd it to be practicable and agreeable. It required 35 per cent, less 

 power to draw an omnibus over metal rails than the ordinary roads, and it was esti- 

 mated that there would be a saving ia the wear and tear of vehicles of 75 per cent. 

 He believed it would be to the interest of trustees of roads to lay down such a 

 railway, as it would save the great desti-uction of the roads ; and coach proprietors 

 would be glad of the opportunity to pay a mileage toll for the saving of horses and 

 rolling stock which they would realize by the change. 



On the Rise and Progress of Clipper and Steam Navigation on the Coasts and 

 Rivers of Chiim and India. — Section 1. By Andrew Henbeeson, A.I. C.E., 

 F.R.G.S. 



1. The importance of this subject Is too great to need any comment In bringing 

 it before the British Association. It is owing to the supeiiority of her navigation 

 that England is chiefly indebted for her supremacy amongst other nations ; and it 

 is by that means alone she can hope to maintain her dominion. Any subject, there- 

 fore, that bears at aU on the question of navigation Is of too gi-eat moment to be 

 passed over without the fullest consideration of its value and applicability. 



2. The author's system of steam commimication is more immediately connected 

 with India and China, as It is in those countries that he has spent many years, the 

 nangation of which he Is Intimately connected with, and to Its iruprovement he 

 has devoted the best energies of his life. The na-vigation of the Eastern rivers, 

 coasts, and archipelagos Is perhaps the most diflicult and dangerous nautical service 

 in the world. Any plan, therefore, which will successfully overcome those diffi- 

 culties must be considered as one of imlversal application. 



3. The vast interest at stake in those coimtrles Is too great for any plan to be 

 neglected which would tend to preserve them to us, and the recent Indian mutiny 

 shows the urgent necessity for maintaining a perfect communication throughout 

 the coasts and rivers of British India, extending, aa It does, fi'om Kui-rachee to 

 Singapore. 



4. The river system, at present navigable from Peshawaur to Sudij-a, on the 

 Indus and Burhampootra, would, if navigated on its upper affluents by light-di-aught 

 boats, bring European civilization and science In communication with 250,000,000 

 of the population of India. 



5. The recent opening of the ports, rivers, canals, and lakes of China gives a 

 larger field for entei-prlse In that coimtry than was ever before anticipated. Having 

 visited China since 1817, the author has always held the opinion that China 

 has, for ages, established the best system of river navigation in the world, both In 

 the construction of boats to meet the requirements of tarade, and in her canal 

 work, to which may be attributed her early civilization and the means of support- 

 ing a dense population of 360 millions. 



G. He piu'posed, therefore, giving a brief review of the principal systems which 



