The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-12-05
A LONDON BLUEBooK.
The Pondersus Tome Issued Yearly
by the City Chamberlain


Once year the city chamberlain issues
a ponderoUs bluebook OF figures relating
10 city finance. It is about as uninterest-
ing in appearance as II can well be. mere
y 3 succession OF accounts. Nevertheless,
ihe writers on financial subjects invariably
rise to the bait as one man. and swallow
the dry production with avidity. The blue
hook is supposed 70 afford food for mirta
and witticism. but anybody VINO suggest
ed il outside Journalistic circles would be
voted a lunatic. There is something sad
dening about the 3a4 folio pages, for they
represent ar outlay of about G500,0S1,
enough TO make your pious Radical. II ne
is still in existence, green With envy and
all unchEsitabIenes II seems that the
worthy aldermen VINO pose 50 prettily IN
purple silk robes and train reception robes
and hoods do not pay f5- them That is
well fer domestic felicity. if the feminine
members OF the family happen 70 be of d
frugal turn OF mind for papa paTading in
a gown which cost Gl2T los. IS one of
them did is shocking waste when femiB-
inc beauty and SHINES could nave car
ried il on so much better We also OBJ
ject strep uously 70 the corporation having
to pay G13 IS. for pin money TO the
sword bearer. Here again is a deliberate in
yaSion Of the rights OF the fair sex. and
If there is woman of mind in the whole
of the domestic circles of the members OF
the corporation she will see that a poT-
ton of that mind is expressed when her
lord returns home. we believe it is a
fact shat the ladies OF the various minis
ters' households seize upon the f132 IS
Cd worth of fine cloth which is delivered
annually as a bribe to the Government Of
fcials 10 keep them in good temper and
has been so delivered for q time which the
memory OF man runneth not 20 the con-
trarE. But that is poor thing compar-
ed with these purple silk robes and pin
money
But the civic fathers can be parsimo-
NOUS in some respects. There is les
than SO charged for disinfectants, foi
instance This is totally inadequate.
the Lord Mayor would find if he would z
into company promoting circles and no, c
the need for Publication Then there is
only Ell SIS So. charged for the livery OF
the Recorders clerk This is 7 No
respectable person can dress or IS Sd
per annum, aE6 We shudder to think OF
the rags and tatters that must get upon
Mr.. Recorders nerves. To expect re-
spectacle church wardens Of London par
ishes to pull dead bodies cut OF the
Thames for FL los per aDnum is little
short of disgusting. Again. there is only
one drunkard in the city OF London-so
that civic banquets arc conduct ed on diff
ferent methods to those IN vogue a hun
dred years ago. a thing for wives and
daughters to note when the head of the
family returns home in the small hours
of the morning. But that dTunkard should
be regarded as a relic of the good old
days when people were not so par ocular,
and surely it is not handsome TO pay
only Ell rs for his maintenance fer
whole year We put ii TO the corpora
ton. with sill respect, would they like it
by an unfortunate combination Of cir
cumstances, any of them found them
selves in his place? Again, II was surely
4 little hard that Mr. Z. n Buxton Should
have 20 put up with beggarly :nuni-
mated address costing only SIS IS, when
Mr.. Henniker Heaton had done that cost
ESQ los. if the latter were intended as
recompense for the absence Of a baron
etcy. which a cruel Government continues
to withhold. why does not the corpora
ton say SO, and thus spare poor Mr..
Buttons feelings2 No, the civic ac-
counts certainly give grounds for much
dissatisfaction. Not the least is the
manner in which they are set out II
only William James Richard Cotton
knight. Chamberlain of the City of Lon
DON as he is styled would collect all
his interesting points on separate
sheet, and send them round to the news
papers many Woodworking journalist
would be saved the awful toll of wading
through those SS4 folio pages.