Excerpt from The Manchester: Steam User's Association 9, Mount Street, Albert Square, Manchester, Tuesday, 29th March, 1898. To The Executive Committee, Gentlemen, In preparation for the approaching Annual Meeting, allow me to lay before you a few remarks on the valuable services which my predecessor has rendered this Association, and a general review of our attainments, together with a few engineering matters. A few details of Mr. Lavingotn E. Flethcer's early life will also t be out of place, as they explain in some measure how be acquired the varied experiences which guided him in his long and successful career as Chief Engineer of this Association. He was born in 1822, and at the age of 17 entered the engineering profession, to which he remained wedded for the remainder of his life-for 58 years. Shortly after the completion of his apprenticeship he had charge of the erection of the first engine, boiler, and biscuit machinery at Messrs. Huntley & Palmer's works. In 1842, when he was only 20 years old, he designed and made a steam motor car. For several About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art techlogy to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.