Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

147 OMNIBUS AND TRAMWAY TRAFFIC. THE Omnibus and the Tram are so much commonplaces of city life that one is apt to overlook the magnitude of the interests they represent. The capital sunk in Metropolitan street- car enterprises is, in round numbers, four millions sterling. This enormous sum is productive of profit, directly or indirectly, to incalculable thousands, besides providing for the hourly convenience of five millions of Londoners. It excites, as it were, a great econo- mic wave, whose i ri- fluence is felt not only in the labour market of the capital, but likewise in Canada, the United States, Hun- gary and Russia, and last, but by no means A VETERINARY SURGEON EXAMINING HORSES. least, in Ireland. The various companies have in their possession about forty thousand horses, valued at over a million sterling. A huge fraction of their revenue flows annually into the pockets of Irish and Hungarian horse-breeders to replenish the waste in horse-flesh. And more than twice the amount goes to North and South America, and Russia, to buy oats, maize, barley, beans, hay and straw, for the gigantic granaries from which the studs, scattered all over London, draw their allowances of provender. This is how one form of a London enterprise affects the world s marts. The advantages to London itself are less easily summarised. But one statement of fact is eloquent in its simplicity. Upwards of thirty thousand men are engaged in the street transit services, which, allowing for a moderate percentage of married people, means that seventy thousand persons are dependent for their daily bread upon the prosperity of the industry. The London General Omnibus Company, employing seventeen thousand horses and five thousand men, is probably the greatest institution of its kind in the world. The wages a c- count for its drivers and c o nductors totals up to over £300,000 in the course of a twelve- month, leav- ing an army of superin- t e n d e n t s, i n s pectors, t i m ekeepers, 1 a m p m e n, cleaners, stabl e men, artisans and clerks, still to be pro- vided for. In alliance with the London General are numerous omnibus associations. The Road Car Company, with only five thousand horses, manages to maintain a spirited competition with the premier con- cern and its allies. In eighteen months the London General carries passengers equivalent to the population of all Europe, or, in round numbers, three hundred millions. During a similar period the Road Car accommodates a number represented by the population of all North America, or roughly, a hundred millions. How insignificant the population of London appears when set in contrast with these bewildering figures! And all these millions are piled one upon another by the daily coming and going of