8S COAL MINES OF

and the efficacy of his system, were corrobo-rated by the personal and highly respectableevidence of the Honourable Washington Shir-ley, and of several other gentlemen practicallyacquainted with the subject, whilst the philo-sophical principles of its operation underwentthe most scrutinizing though liberal discussionof the committee.

By permission of the chairman I was al-lowed to express my sentiments at length uponthe subject, and to ask guch questions as Ithought necessary to bd brought before thesociety. The rejection of Mr. Ryan’s plans inthe North seemed to indicate that there wassome deficiency in them which was not madepublic, and probably this barrier w'ould nothave been overcome even by the multiplicityof satisfactory testimonials which were pro-duced from Staffordshire, had not the preju-dices and mistaken interests which coalesce inthe North been fairly laid open.

I entered upon the subject as well as uponthe comparative systems of Mr. Buddie, Mr.Ryan, and Mr. Menzies, at considerablelength; and the committee, feeling the import-ance and great interest of the question, gave itthe fullest latitude, and, after a long sitting onTuesday evening the 7th of May, it was ad-journed to Thursday the Qth.