for the readings. One is provided for each district, the consumers being arranged in such order as is most convenient for the meter reader to visit the premises.

These books are submitted periodically to the Chief Works Clerk, and, after he has examined them, are passed on to the Secretary's Department, in which the accounts are made out by the Accounts Clerk and rendered to the consumers, the money being collected by the Cashier and his staff and paid into the bank.

The last branch of the Chief Works Clerk's duties relates to the reports presented by the various officials to the Chief Engineer. After the latter has examined them, they are passed on to the Chief Works Clerk, who abstracts the information from them and compiles weekly, quarterly, or yearly returns as required.

These

Private Secretary.-We now pass on to the department of the Private Secretary, which is a comparatively small but important one. This official should possess a thorough knowledge of shorthand, typewriting, and general office work. An appropriate salary is about £200 per annum. Under him will be a sufficient number of expert shorthand writers and typists. should all be able to write at the rate of not less than 150 words per minute, and be able to read one another's shorthand. Every shorthand writer should also be a typist, so that he may write his own transcript, as speed and accuracy will be thereby promoted, but one or two typists who are not shorthand writers can be employed for copying documents.

A clerk used to proof reading will be found of great use, as it is important that letters and reports should be carefully read through to avoid clerical errors; a man used to printing-office work develops an instinct for noticing mistakes.

The duties of the Private Secretary consist in having letters and reports, etc., ready for the Chief Engineer, and, if the correspondence be heavy, in opening and sorting the letters for him. He will be responsible for the safe keeping and proper filing away of all correspondence, the American system in which the letters received are filed away in drawers with the copies of the replies to them, being the arrangement best suited to modern requirements, and greatly to be preferred to the guard book and press copy book of the period antecedent to the typewriting machine, both on the score of convenience and very great economy of time.

It is strongly advocated that all correspondence should pass through the Chief Engineer's hands, and that no departure should on any account be allowed from this rule. In this way the Chief is kept in touch with everything that is going on, and no official has the chance of marring his general policy.

Many of the letters received will, of course, have to be sent to the heads of the various departments for attention, and, if desired, these officials may

be allowed to draft a reply for the Chief to sign or they may simply send him the information to enable him to answer the communication himself. When the actual letter is sent out of the office, it is important that a record of its whereabouts should be kept. For this purpose, the Author has found the slip shown in Form 59 very useful. This is numbered, and the name of the official written in with instructions as to what he is required to do with the letter; the slip is gummed so that it may be attached to the letter. On the counterfoil is noted the date the letter is sent, the name of the correspondent, the number of the slip, and the name of the official deputed to deal with it, while a blank is left for the date he returns it. By glancing at the counterfoils it is easy to see at once whether any letters are left outstanding, and who has them, and only a few seconds are required to fill in the slips.

[Size of slip and counterfoil, 2′′ by 6".] It is convenient to have 3 or 4 of these on the page, perforated between, so as to tear out easily-the slips being, of course,

consecutive.

A careful record of the stamps used, and of the posting of letters, should be kept to prevent fraud and disputes as to the dispatch of letters.

The Private Secretary will see that all the reports are ready for the Chief as due, and he will make and note appointments for him, supplying him with an agenda of the day's work each morning.

Secretary.-There remains the Secretary's department. A portion of his work has already been described, and since the greater part is ordinary office routine, common to all commercial concerns, it need not be enlarged on. The Secretary should be paid about the same salary as the Chief Works Clerk. His principal subordinate is the Accountant, who should have had a thorough training as a Chartered Accountant, and be competent to undertake the whole of the financial work, and prepare all books for the Auditors. Under the Accountant will be the Accounts Clerk, whose business it will be to prepare the consumers' accounts from the meter readers' books supplied to him by the Chief Works Clerk; the Cashier, who will have a staff of collectors, receive all money due from the consumers, and pay all trade accounts due for goods supplied to the Undertakers and wages and salaries; and a Pay Clerk, whose duties have already been described.

The Secretary will issue the specifications drawn by the Chief Engineer and receive all tenders for stores and plant, submitting them to the Board of Directors or Committee, and after they have been opened by them, tabulating the prices and passing them on to the Chief Engineer for him to report on to the Board or Committee. He will then draw up the contracts with the selected firms and take all steps necessary to see that they are of proper financial standing.

The Secretary will look after all legal matters that may arise in connection with the work of the department, and if any Parliamentary work is in hand, such as the preparation of bills promoted by the Undertakers or the opposing of bills inimical to their interests, he will take all necessary steps. For this purpose he will communicate with the Solicitors acting for the Undertakers and their Parliamentary agent, and will arrange for the retention of counsel. When the undertaking is owned by a Company, the Secretary will carry out the various duties entailed by the Acts as to registering and allotment of shares, Articles of Association, etc.

Lastly, the Secretary will be responsible for receiving all enquiries as to the supply, and giving information to intending consumers.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE CONSUMER.

THE Connection of a consumer's installation requires the co-operation of so many departments that it is impossible to give an intelligible account of the routine under the heading of any one; hence it will be best to trace out the whole of the operations from the time the consumer applies for the current until it is turned on. After this the maintenance of this apparatus, the attention to his complaints, the additions to his installation, and its cutting off when necessary will be described.

In what follows it is assumed that the consumer is supplied from a lowpressure network, as will be the case in all large systems.

First of all, the consumer must formally apply for the current, giving certain necessary information about his installation, and entering into an agreement to take the supply for which he has asked.

The particulars necessary are the name and address of the consumer, the nature of his premises, the number of lamps, motors, etc., he intends to have fixed, the name of the contractor fitting up his premises, etc. It is usual to combine with the application a form of undertaking to take the supply for a minimum period. There is no harm in requiring this, but it is of little practical use, since it is obviously impossible to make the consumer use the energy if he does not choose to do so. The forms of application in use in Manchester are reproduced in Forms 60 and 61, pp. 455, 456, a separate one being used for lamps and for motors.

The application having been received by the Secretary, the first thing is to ascertain that there are mains sufficiently near to the premises for the supply to be given. If this be so, the Secretary must satisfy himself that the consumer has a good reputation for financial soundness. If there is any doubt on this point, it is the practice in some towns to demand from the consumer a deposit equal to the estimated amount of his account for one winter's quarter, the Undertakers paying interest on the deposit at a fair rate, say 4 per cent. This is a most excellent system; and in Manchester, where it is at work, the bad debts only amount to about one-twentieth of one per cent. on the total revenue. The Secretary, having settled these

FORM 60.-Application for Energy (Lamps).

No............

(Name of Works here.)

APPLICATION FOR A SUPPLY OF ELECTRICITY.

To (insert name of Company or Corporation).

.......hereby give notice to (insert name of Company or Corporation) that... .wish to have, and............hereby agree with (insert name of Company or Corporation) to take, for a period of not less than...... * Insert period ..years* from the...... of supply. .....day of... .190......, a supply of electricity for the (Minimum premises mentioned below (1) at the rate of charge of...... per unit, as measured by one year.) meter, with a minimum charge of.........per quarter, t

or

† Please strike out the rate at

not wish to be charged.

(2) at the rate...... ...per quarter for every kilowatt demanded when all lamps which you do or other consuming devices are in use, and......per unit as measured by meter; that is to say, at a fixed charge of.........per quarter for each sixteen-candle power lamp, and ......per unit as measured by the meter; or for motors at the rate of.........per unit as measured by meter, with a minimum charge of............per quarter, and.. .......hereby further agree to pay the charges required by the Regulations for the rent of such meter until............give written notice of... ...intention to discontinue using the same, and to allow the authorised servants of the (insert name of Company or Corporation) free access thereto at all reasonable times, and to permit them to remove the same for repair or exchange, as and when by them may be considered necessary.

*State whether the Arc Lamps are for fixing inside or outside the premises.

[Size 101" by 81", printed on white paper.]