DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0174
144. THE GREAT EXHIBITION
antecedents of these interesting bits of paper. In the infancy of railway travelling—and
even now on some small branches—the passenger-tickets were slips of paper torn from a
cheque-book and given to the purchaser, to be delivered up to the guard at the end of the
journey. This plan was soon found to be inconvenient; as, although the tickets were
made to correspond with the counterfoil in the book, a vast deal of small peddling, no little
purloining by the officials themselves, and many mistakes were continually occurring. To
avoid all this, the machine at present in use was invented. By it, all the tickets are
numbered consecutively from one to any determinate number. The money taken at
each station should correspond with the tickets collected at night; and if the chain
in the numbering of the latter be broken, then it is known that there is a ticket lost,
or that the guard in attendance has neglected to collect it; on the contrary, if the
number of tickets exceeds the amount, then it is certain that some individual must
have taken a ride without paying for it, through some collusion with the money-takers
or guards. In these cases, the money-takers are held responsible. Suppose the tickets
issued on, say June 1st, run from 1,500 to 3,500, and a ticket is discovered with 750
marked ou it, which will correspond with a number missing from the previous day's
reckoning, then it is discovered at once that some person has travelled twice with the
same ticket; and the poor fellow whose duty it is to take the passengers' tickets, is
punished for not having exercised proper vigilance, by having to pay the amount of
the deficiency out of his own pocket. It is interesting to know that all these mistakes
are now rendered of very rare occurrence, and that the loss of tickets by pilfering
or collusion is made next to impossible by the invention of this admirable machine—
which not only cuts millboards into the proper sizes for railway tickets, but prints,
numbers, counts, and packs them as well. The consecutive numbering of the tickets
is managed by an automatic wheel, which changes the numbers from one to 9999 without
any attention on the part of the workman. The reason for thus consecutively numbering
the tickets is in order to avoid forgery and the purloining of the tickets from the cabinets
in which they are kept. As a clerk removes a ticket, previous to dating it he always
looks at the preceding ticket to see if the numbers correspond, that he may know if any
have been stolen. When the tickets are collected at the end of the journey they are
again arranged numerically, as has been before stated; and thus all chance of wrong-doing
is prevented. "Where there is little temptation, there is little crime. This machine is
now in use on several of the large railway lines.
Curious facts connected 'with the Exhibition.—Of the money received at the doors,
£275,000 was in silver, and £81,000 in gold. The weight of the silver coin so taken (at
the rate of 28 lb. per £100) would be thirty-five tons, and its bulk 900 cubit feet! The
rapid flow of the coin into the hands of the money-takers prevented all examination of
each piece as it was received, and £90 of bad silver was taken, but only one piece of
bad gold, and that was a half-sovereign. The half-crown was the most usual bad coin;
but a much more noticeable fact is, that nearly all the bad money was taken on the
half-crown and five shilling days. The cash was received by eighteen money-takers : on
the very heavy days six extra ones being employed during the busiest hours. From
them it was gathered by three or four money-porters, who carried it to four collectors,
charged with the task of counting it. From them it went to two tellers, who verified the
sums, and handed it to the final custody of the chief financial officer, Mr. Carpenter,
who locked each day's amount in his peculiar iron chests in the building till nest
morning, when, in boxes, each holding £600, it was borne off in a hackney cab, in
charge of a bank of England clerk and a bank porter. The money was received in all
forms, ranging between farthings and ten pound notes. Contrary to the notices exhibited,
change was given. Occasionally foreigners gave Napoleons, and these coins being mistaken
antecedents of these interesting bits of paper. In the infancy of railway travelling—and
even now on some small branches—the passenger-tickets were slips of paper torn from a
cheque-book and given to the purchaser, to be delivered up to the guard at the end of the
journey. This plan was soon found to be inconvenient; as, although the tickets were
made to correspond with the counterfoil in the book, a vast deal of small peddling, no little
purloining by the officials themselves, and many mistakes were continually occurring. To
avoid all this, the machine at present in use was invented. By it, all the tickets are
numbered consecutively from one to any determinate number. The money taken at
each station should correspond with the tickets collected at night; and if the chain
in the numbering of the latter be broken, then it is known that there is a ticket lost,
or that the guard in attendance has neglected to collect it; on the contrary, if the
number of tickets exceeds the amount, then it is certain that some individual must
have taken a ride without paying for it, through some collusion with the money-takers
or guards. In these cases, the money-takers are held responsible. Suppose the tickets
issued on, say June 1st, run from 1,500 to 3,500, and a ticket is discovered with 750
marked ou it, which will correspond with a number missing from the previous day's
reckoning, then it is discovered at once that some person has travelled twice with the
same ticket; and the poor fellow whose duty it is to take the passengers' tickets, is
punished for not having exercised proper vigilance, by having to pay the amount of
the deficiency out of his own pocket. It is interesting to know that all these mistakes
are now rendered of very rare occurrence, and that the loss of tickets by pilfering
or collusion is made next to impossible by the invention of this admirable machine—
which not only cuts millboards into the proper sizes for railway tickets, but prints,
numbers, counts, and packs them as well. The consecutive numbering of the tickets
is managed by an automatic wheel, which changes the numbers from one to 9999 without
any attention on the part of the workman. The reason for thus consecutively numbering
the tickets is in order to avoid forgery and the purloining of the tickets from the cabinets
in which they are kept. As a clerk removes a ticket, previous to dating it he always
looks at the preceding ticket to see if the numbers correspond, that he may know if any
have been stolen. When the tickets are collected at the end of the journey they are
again arranged numerically, as has been before stated; and thus all chance of wrong-doing
is prevented. "Where there is little temptation, there is little crime. This machine is
now in use on several of the large railway lines.
Curious facts connected 'with the Exhibition.—Of the money received at the doors,
£275,000 was in silver, and £81,000 in gold. The weight of the silver coin so taken (at
the rate of 28 lb. per £100) would be thirty-five tons, and its bulk 900 cubit feet! The
rapid flow of the coin into the hands of the money-takers prevented all examination of
each piece as it was received, and £90 of bad silver was taken, but only one piece of
bad gold, and that was a half-sovereign. The half-crown was the most usual bad coin;
but a much more noticeable fact is, that nearly all the bad money was taken on the
half-crown and five shilling days. The cash was received by eighteen money-takers : on
the very heavy days six extra ones being employed during the busiest hours. From
them it was gathered by three or four money-porters, who carried it to four collectors,
charged with the task of counting it. From them it went to two tellers, who verified the
sums, and handed it to the final custody of the chief financial officer, Mr. Carpenter,
who locked each day's amount in his peculiar iron chests in the building till nest
morning, when, in boxes, each holding £600, it was borne off in a hackney cab, in
charge of a bank of England clerk and a bank porter. The money was received in all
forms, ranging between farthings and ten pound notes. Contrary to the notices exhibited,
change was given. Occasionally foreigners gave Napoleons, and these coins being mistaken