of ‘no, no.’) I venture to say they have not established any thing of the kind.  All that has been done is this—­it has been shown that wood pavement, which is comparatively a recent introduction, has not yet been brought to perfection—­(hear, hear.) Now, every one knows that complaints have always been made against every new principle, till it has been brought to perfection.  Look, for instance, at the steam-engine.  How vastly different it now is, with the improvements which science has effected, from what it was when it was first introduced to the notice of the world!  Wherever wood pavement has been laid down, it has been approved of.  All who have enjoyed the advantage of its extension, acknowledge the comfort derived from it.  Sir Peter Laurie asserts that he is continually receiving thanks for his agitation about wood paving, and that an omnibus would not hold the compliments he receives at the West End.  Now, I can only say, that I find the contrary to be the case; and every body who meets me exclaims, ’Good God! what can Sir Peter Laurie be thinking about, to try and get the wood paving taken up, and stone paving substituted?’ So far from thanking Sir Peter, every body is astonished at him.  The wood pavement has not been laid down nearly three years, and I say here, in the face of the Commission, that there have not been ten blocks taken up; but had granite been put down, I will venture to say that it would, during the same period, have been taken up six or seven times.  Your books will prove it, that the portion of granite pavement in the Poultry was taken up six or seven times during a period of three years.  When the wood paving becomes a little slippery, go to your granite heaps which belong to this commission, or to your fine sifted cinder heaps, and let that be strewed over the surface; that contains no earthy particles, and will, when it becomes imbedded in the wood, form such a surface that there cannot be any possibility be any slipperiness—­(hear, hear!) Do we not pursue this course in frosty weather even with our own stone paving?  There used to be, before this plan was adopted, not a day pass but you would in frosty weather see two, three, four, and even five or six horses down together on the stone paving—­(’Oh! oh!’ from Mr Deputy Godson.) My friend may cry ‘oh! oh!’ but I mean to say that this assertion is not so incongruous as the statement of my friend, that he saw twenty horses down at once on the wood pavement in Newgate Street, (laughter.) I may exclaim with my worthy friend the deputy on my left, who lives in Newgate Street, ’When the devil did it happen?  I never heard of it.’  I stand forward in support of wood paving as a great public principle, because I believe it to be most useful and advantageous to the public; which is proved by the fact, that the public at large are in favour of it.  If we had given notice that this court would be open to hear the opinions of the citizens of London on the subject of wood paving, I am convinced that the number of petitions in its favour would have been so great, that the doors would not have been sufficiently wide to have received them.”