UNKNOWN

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 698, 20 October 1909, Page 6

UNKNOWN

All America.ia who have Jiv<u in London will .4.-.. i:.»:ii-i-U the curious fae.tuy wiiii n...--.: Englishmen o>ntr.ve to tuii, ;•... . • American inventions by ad 0...._ .hem unly in part. it i.--a sympi-i..L mC ihe national myopia which wili u.-v.t- unreservedly admit that the Engaaii way »f doing thini > is iK/t the be.-:. »ays the New Yurn Commercial Advertiser. Any American in L>Mnlon could give a. dozen in.itai.ies of this trait, and they would embrace most conceiyable things, from railroad car couplings t<> elevators, cocktail* and soda fountains. The geniu> who put up the building iu which I occupy a flat may serv.- :.-. au example, He wa~ evidentiy infected with American ideas. He had heard of elevator? unci dumb-waiters aia! speaking- tube-, and he had made tip his mind t<j lead all London by including these convcuiences in ids flat* houses. Bmr instead of connecting the opeak-ingr-tabe with the kitchen, he. pur i: just outside the drawing-room, so thai if it were used at all. the entire household would have to overhear the struggles of the servants with the tradesmen; and instead of running up the dumb-waiter alongside the kitchen or pantry, he placed it ontKide the fiat altogether, in tha hall, opposite the elevator. The consequence is, of course, that neither dumb-waiter nor speaking speaking-tube is utilized, and a happy Atnerican notion is . discredited in English eyes, for lack of simple attention to the necessary detail*,