186 report — 1877. 



5. They leave to the Secretary of State a discretionary power to extend the privi- 

 lege to other trades which fall within the same principle. 6. All exercise of such 

 discretionary power to be subject to the assent of Parliament, obtained by laying 

 the authority for a fixed period on the table of the House. 7. Privileges of re- 

 covery of lost time to be reduced to the same rule as those of working overtime. 

 8. All privileges to work u according to the custom of the trade," or for the ex- 

 emption of boys of 10 from the supervision of the law, are disapproved. The 

 classes of trades which are defined by the commissioners for enjoyment of the pri- 

 vilege of working overtime are : — 1, trades where the material is perishable, and is 

 brought to market in large quantities at one time, as curing of tish, preserving of 

 fruit, &c. ; 2, trades wheie stoppage is caused by weather emergency, as open-ail 

 bleaching, brick-making, and (if that form of claim is still to be allowed) mills 

 worked by water-power; 3, trades liable to emergency from a sudden press of 

 orders, as dressmaking, letterpress printing, &c. ; 4, trades liable to similar emer- 

 gency from a press of orders which can be, to some extent, foreseen and provided 

 against, as printers of almanacks and periodicals, Christinas goods makers, and 

 some provision trades. In these latter cases they propose, as an additional check, 

 that the overtime worked shall be repaid out of the ordinary time when the emer- 

 gency is past." In conclusion, the author expressed a hope that this classification 

 would find its way into the draft of the Factory Consolidation Act before it came 

 on again for consideration in Parliament. He said : — " In legislation, as in every 

 other Act, it is most mischievous to talk as if it proceeded, here and there, in con- 

 travention of scientific principles. Science all the while stands patiently waiting, 

 with her hands full of gifts, which are principles. We come to her, like children, 

 for a gift ; and, having received it, we run away and put it to all manner of uses, 

 for some of which it is unsuited, till it breaks in our hands. Those who return, 

 time after time, to the fountain of principles to rectify their general conclusions, 

 and learn to apply them more carefully, will not be disappointed in that exhaust- 

 less storehouse. When, therefore, in legislation an exception or group of excep- 

 tions has forced itself upon us, and broken up the symmetry of our system, it is the 

 part of a wise legislator to set to work to discover the principles which lie behind 

 these exceptions, and to reduce them, in their turn, to rule." 



MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 



Address by Edward Woods, Esq., C.E., President of the Section. 



[Plates III. & IV.] 



In accordance with long-established usage it has been customary for the Presi- 

 dent of this as of the other Sections to open the proceedings of the Session by 

 giving an introductory address. 



Presuming on your land indulgence, I venture on this occasion to submit to 

 your notice some remarks on a subject which has latterly much engaged the 

 attention of the Railway Companies and of the Government, namely, the question 

 of the application of adequate brake-power to the coutrol of railway trains. 



In the summer of 1874 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the 

 causes of accidents on railways, and into the possibility of removing any such causes 

 by further legislation. 



One branch of this inquiry naturally led to the consideration of the causes con- 

 tributory to accidents of the nature of collisions ; and it appeared from the evidence 

 taken before the Commissioners that not only was there generally an insufficiency 

 of controlling power in trains, but also that the distance within which a train 

 running at high speed could be stopped by the brake-power ordinarily in use was 

 not ascertained with any approach to accuracy. 



It was under these circumstances that the Commissioners applied to the Railway 

 Companies to institute a definite series of experiments to test the amount of control 

 given by the brake-power ordinarily applied to their trains, and the effect of various 

 systems of continuous brakes. 



