Evening star., 1900-04-21

systems, one from the north another from
the south, and minor one from the west.
The city of London is actual owner of the
largest of these; of the second it is both
owner and manager.
The city acquired this line a little less
than a year ago. At that time the service
was bad, and the employees of the road had
to work seven days in the week and pro-
vide their own uniforms. The fare was one
penny, or two American cents. The city re-
organized the service, supplied the employees
! with uniforms free, raised their wages, gave
them one day rest in the week and reduced
the fare from penny to a halfpenny. In
spite of these expenditures, however the
highways committee will be able to report
to the London city council a surplus over
all expenses of $4,000. 1t is upon this
line that electricity is 10 be substituted for
the less effective horse.
1t Is the intention of the city government
to do in the case of the telephones Just
what was done in the case of the trans -
In going about It's task the London post
office becomes the confessed rival of the
National Telephone Company, which has
coupled high rates with poor service for a
good many years occupying the field alone
and oblivious alike to newspaper criticism
and reports of parliamentary committees
1t is a feature of the government of London
that Whenever any big combine goes into
business here 1t gets permission from the
London county council to do SO for clearly
stated term of years, at the end of which
the city has the right to purchase. In the
case Of the national combine, that date is
d
the authorities had contented themselves
with gnashing their teeth and with thinking
that time would come.
Municipal Ownership.
But one fine day the energetic A. W. Han
bury, Joint secretary of the treasury, made
an outspoken speech in parliament on the
subject of telephones, and the immediate
result was an appropriation of $4,000, 600
for municipal system on the same lines
as the telegraph, which the government
now owns and manages, as well as the
trunk telephone lines throughout the prov
inces
Wind has played hob with the National
Telephone Company's service all through
the past year. and only a little while after
the passage of that bill through parliament
it asked permission of the London county
council to lay its wires underground. 1t
was told that it could if it would con-
sent to work some reforms in its pres
ent ragged system and abate its prices
to a more reasonable figure 1t was when
it. refused to do this that the coun-
tenn of it's own. In the capacity of mana
ger the city of London will charge SIS for
installation as compared with the S75
charged by the trust, and make a proper
uCnately lower rate for public call offices.
The building of the plant and its manage
ment after it is built will be the business
of the post office. .
The English Post Office.
It seems almost cruel to have laid yet an
other burden upon the back Of this hard
worked institution, already bowed under
list of responsibilities that 1t is tiresome to
think of, but each of them an instance of
the British governments success shop
keeper. For selling stamps. registering let
ters and the sort of thing that one expects
to find post Office doing, is no more its
only business than 1t is of the old farmer UP
in the Adirondacks, who is postmas ster, gro
Ger, toy merchant and undertaken all rolled
into one.
The system of government savings banks,
which is one Of the greatest of the things
that the post Office has to attend to, isn't,
of course, a municipal service, but 1t is an
other instance of civil servants carrying on
a business that Is usually run by private
companies, and it is connected with the
list of London improvements, for the de-
partment ia soon to move into a ive-acre
building in West Kensington, where 1t will
have elbow room for it's 5000 clerks, and
which will be the largest bank in the world.
The post office transacts the actual re-
ceiving of money through its 1900 little
branch post offices, scattered all through
the kingdom, not, as a rule, big, weIl-Gght-
ed rooms like the substations in American
cities, but consisting of a counter and a
wire netting with two or three girls behind
1t, at the dark end of grocery store, more
likely than not. Yet in these unpromising