xii Report of Committee on 



7. In the paper itself Mr. Smith states, that so far as he knows, 

 no experiments have been made in Victoria ; the experiments 

 quoted are evidently one series, made by the same person, and are 

 spoken of by Mr. Smith as being Mr. Hope's, as follows : — 



" Mr. D. T. Hope, in a paper read before the Scottish Society of 

 Arts ;" and again, further on, " I will, therefore, further refer to the 

 experiments of Mr. Hope;" and Mr. Hope's name is again repeated. 



Having considered this evidence, we have concluded, as regards 

 the first head, that Mr. Smith had no intention to claim as his own, 

 either Mr. Hope's experiments or any credit that might result from 

 them. 



As regards the second head, we invite your consideration of the 

 following points : — 



1. The paper in question was prepared originally as a report for 

 a committee of the Town Council, and before it was read Mr. Smith 

 applied to the Council of the Philosophical Institute for permission 

 to read it, without forfeiting the right to print it separately. Mr. 

 Smith distinctly states that it was headed " An Essay" without his 

 knowledge or consent. 



2. The paper was directed to the question of the propriety of using 

 wood pavement in Melbourne. 



The whole as printed, consists of about 450 bines, and is divided 

 as follows : — 



1st — The history of its introduction into Britain. 

 2nd — Some accounts of various patents. 

 3rd — Practical experiments. 



1. On the best position of the fibre. 



2. On the durability of wood as a material for street jmving. 



3. On the efficiency of wood for paving when necessarily sub- 



jected to wet and dry weather. 



4. Traction on wood pavement as compared with granite 



pitchers or macadamised roads. 



4th — Wood pavement might be used with greater advantage in the 

 streets of Melbourne than of London. 



5th — General remarks. 



Of these five headings the third, " Practical Experiments," con- 

 tains all the quotations from Mr. Hope's paper. 



At this point, however, it is necessary to draw attention to an - 

 error introduced into the paper as printed. 



The heading "' III. Practical Experiments," is placed in the middle 

 of the fourth subdivision of that head, where it obviously has no 

 meaning at all. But in the manuscript there is a blank of half a 

 page left for the heading where no blank of any kind appears in the 

 printed copy, — viz., immediately before the words " Mr. T. D. Hope 

 in a paper, &c." near the bottom of page 4 of the printed copy. Mr. 

 Smith assures us that being much engaged at the time he neglected 

 to correct the proofs, and takes blame to himself for this neglect. 



