30 HENRY DEANE, 
of the structure brought as it were.into line, and the lines 
of forces controlled by efficient bracing. 
The other event to which I refer was the disastrous 
Braybrook accident. It would not be right to comment 
on the event, as the matter is sub judice, but it is not 
going too far to say that such an accident ought not to 
occur at all if the very effective modern system of signals 
established were properly watched and attended to. There 
seems to have been a spirit growing which sooner or later 
must lead toa catastrophe, and there must have been many 
hair breadth escapes before, at any of which similar 
disasters might have occurred. It is to be hoped that this 
spirit of recklessness will now be controlled. 
I must not conclude my address to you without referring 
shortly to the losses in membership by death that have 
been sustained by the Society during the past twelve months. 
Among our Honorary Members we have lost Sir Benjamin 
Baker, Mr. Robert L. J. Ellery, Sir James Hector and 
Lord Kelvin. | 
Sir Benjamin Baker, who died from heart failure on 19th 
May, 1907, at the age of 67 years, was for many years with 
the late Sir John Fowler closely connected with the engi- 
neering work of this State. Sir John Fowler held for many 
years the position of Consulting and Inspecting Engineer 
to the Government of New South Wales, and vast quantities 
of rails and machinery were received here after careful and 
close scrutiny by his firm and staff as regards specification, 
workmanship and material. Sir Benjamin Baker is perhaps 
best known to the world in his association with Sir John 
Fowler as the designer of the Great Forth Bridge, and 
more recently in connection with the Assouan Dam. He 
was at quite an early stage associated with Sir John Fowler 
on the Metropolitan District Railways, and more recently 
he took a leading part in the construction of the City and 
