Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-07

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whose profits were over s5,Oo0o00. The
London County Council proposes to buy
out these parties and run the water
works as city institution.
This would undoubtedly be better for
London IN a sanitary way and also for
it's fire department This city. has ten
fires every day the year through. 1t has
more than $500 fires year, and the fire
brigade is avery important part of the
metropolis. This now consists of 1900
men, and it is equipped with seventy
steam engines. Of which eight are river
engines to protect the shipping of the
Thames. In most of the towns of Eng
land the fire departments are not as
well organized as in our own. and the
machinery here is far behind the times.
They Have Better Mails.
There is one thing, however, which I
find much better here than in the United
States. l refer to the postal and telegraph
services. These are under the general
government, and are excellently we'll
managed. If I remember correctly our
postal service is run at loss. The Eng
lish Is&.stal service makes q profit of about
SlS.o3l.oGJ a year, and gives better mails
at lower rates. You can send a letter
weighing four ounces TO any part of the
United Kingdom for penny or two
or one cent, for two ounces. You can
send parcels which weigh as much as
eleven pounds for six cents for each adj
ditional pound, and the book post is about
the same as ours.
The telegraph service is lower than in
America. The cost Of dispatch to any
part Of Great Britain and Ireland is 1
cent a word, the lowest charge being y
cents, and both address and signature
h<s- =
office in East London there is a telegraph
room where 500 men are employed recev-
ing and sending dspa tches. while in the
basement there are four steam engines
which supply the pneumatic tubes by
which the kilograms are forwarded for
delivery to the various parts of the city.
1 like the postal savings bank system
which is in use all over Great Britain,
SO that every little village has it's savings
bank. on can deposit money wherever
there is a post-otiice, and the savings
banks are so well patroniZed that they
now have more than s60,0oo,OO0 on deposit.
Such an institution would be Of the great
est good to the United States. and if pro-
perly organized would result in our hold
ing every cent OF our own national debt.
ArnericaH-London Exposition.
During my stay in London I have been
to Americas exposition at the Crystal
Palace. 1t is not a success either in the
number of it's exhibitors or the number
OF its visitors. Indeed. You can see more
American goods in q walk along Picca-
dilly or the Strand than you can at the
Crystal Palace. Many of the exhibitors
complain that they have been brought
here under false pretences, and 1t would
have been much better for them and for
the reputation of the United States if
1oI M ft.,y, OF OIL
far S I can see, the whole show consists
of a fair display, of American typewriters.
a few machinery exhibits. an American
soda water fountain. a carpet sweeper or
SO from Grand Rapids, lawn mower
from New York. a patent beer bottle
washer from Philadelphia. a Kodak or SO
and half dozen spectacle sellers. The
suectacle sellers have boxes of spectacles
on hand. and they will sell you a micro
scope or test Your eyes while you wait.
american TypeyYritcrs in London.
I talked to the typewriter exhibitors.
They tell me that the whole of the type
writing trade Of Great Britain is now in
American hands and that there Is only one
English machine worth speaking of. This
is called the Salter, but there are not more
than 500 in use in the whole country.
The demand for typewriters here is
steadily Increasing. although it Is still
nothing compared with that of the United
States I find typewriting establishments
in all the cities. and fairly good typists.
as the typewriter girls are called. In most
Ca ses, however. the English typewriter
girl is not accustomed to taking dictation.
as she does better as a copyist.
> Here in London dictation costs half q
crown or g. cents an hour or 10 shillings
a day. You can have copying done by
good operators for Is cents per thousand
words, and by less expert ones as low as
Is cents per thousand.
Some of my work has been done at an
office near the Covent Garden Market,
and, strange to say, my typewriter is a
grand daughter OF Charles Dickens. She
Is an expert typist and has some efficient
assistants. She charges me 62 cents an
hour, and she can rattle OF a letter like
this IN just about two hours and a half.
FRANK e., GARPENTER.