SKETCHES FROM HOME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7222, 10 January 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

SKETCHES FROM HOME.

[BY A LADY CORRESPONDENT.] London, November 14. WHITELBY'S SHOP IN LONDON. The " Universal. Provider" shop of William Whiteley has certainly grown to be one of the sights of London, and is verily known, Ido believe, »11 over the globe. There is no more striking illustration that great things grow from small.beginnings than this establishment. In 1863 its proprietor set up a small haberdashery shop in Westbourne Grove, West London, where he had only twenty yards of counter, two assistants, an errand-boy, and some £10 in cash. Twentyone years have passed, and Mr. Whiteley has not only taken a wife from behind that same counter, but extended it to such a degree that nearly the whole of Westbourne Grove, besides nine shops in a neighbouring street, are now in his possession, and the burning of a fractional part of his premises entailed the loss of a quartor of a million sterling. The two assistants swelled to an army nearly 4000 in number, whilst the £.10 have undergone a like multiplication, how great he does not naturally care to reveal. A hero of trade ; for it is unfair to imagine that the enthusiasm needful to a hero may alone be sought in romantic fields : it must have been just as necessary to the production of such enormous results as have been effected by him who might well be dubbed "William the Conqueror." In speaking of his business, it may bo well to move on the deductive system, and proceed from given results to the method used in their production. These results are as huge as Leviathan. It takes at least five or six hours merely to $;o over the establishment; indeed, that v.ew of its different houses which may be had from a certain window of the shop almost makes us believe that we are looking on some village community, including every possible trade and convenience, whilst the leads and skylights belonging to the houses are like the camps of a great army. If we wish to walk over Mr. Whiteley's premises, we should first go to the countinghouse, where we can procure a guide. He is quite needful, apart from any information be may give, for the labyrinth of different departments, upstairs and downstairs, is so intricate that it is an easy matter to 1030 oneself. It would take till Doomsday to enumerate or describe their contents in detail. The haberdashery department alone is 220 feet in length, whilst the dress and silk department presents to the eye an interminable vista of different coloured rolls —now of silk, now of woollen stuffs, quite a different room being devoted to cotton goods. Indeed, from their assortment, this is necessary. It would almost seem as though the cotton plant, as, indeed, every other plant in the world, grows for Mr. Whiteley, for he appears to have bought up all the wares prepared from it, not to speak of the vast amount of linen that he has for sale. In the department for artificial flowers and millinery we have very ample proof of the eccentricity of mankind. Demand is proved by supply, and these forests of false poppies, prolane roses, and unnatural daisies that increase towards the season show too evidently that they are preferred to the realities they imitate. Close by is the perfumery, medicine, and hair-dressing department. In this neighbourhood, too, we find the shop for stationery, where every variety of paper, note-book, pen, and pencil may be found in abundance. Of a not more extensive nature are the pomps and vanities proper, to be seen in the jewellery, lace, fin-, and costume departments. The latter runs along the rear of several shops, and 'a filled with ready-made gowns, some of tkmi remarkably cheap. During " sale time" (at midsummer and just after Christmas) the number of these grows considerably, and is only to be rivalled by the noble army of mantles upstairs, which alone give employment to 110 workers. The usual number of assistants required in each department varies from 70 to 90, the headwomen earning as much as £80 a year. ludeed, the elegant array of well-looking damsels overawes the beholders. They are often far better dressed than their customers.

Furnishing and upholstery have also been well provided for, and boasts some very pretty specimens, for Mr. Whiteley, like the rest of London, made his bow to art, and artistically-shaped furniture is to be seen here in all variety. His selection of cretonnes were special objects of admiration to Cotewayo, the late Zulu King, when he went over tae place. It is said, however, that he was disappointed at finding it so full of people, crowds having thronged thither to gaze upon him. " I came to see the shop, but 1 can only see heads," he was heard to remark pathetically. It may be added that Mr. Whiteley provided for this prince during his stay in London, not only furnishing his house, but supplying him with food and with domestics to dress the same; for Mr. Whiteley sells food also. In the Queen's-road we can procure provisions enough to last us a lifetime. Poultry (both live and dead) is to be had here, the live stock, partly coming from Mr. Wbiteley's own farm. From his nurseries, too, come the flowers, which are lovely, and very much cheaper than at the usual florists. A ftr'nery is at the back of this department, which is also adorned by a fountain containing goldfish. The neighbouring room boasts a miniature Zoological Garden of cats, birds, and rabbits. But the chief part of the provisions are in a long department to the left. Here are collected all things that have seemed savoury to the nostril since the Garden of Eden. The amounts sold are fabulous. Thus: three tons of sausages alone are sold in one day. These, with the pastry and some other dishes, are prepared chiefly downstairs, though part of the latter article is baked in a room above; and, if such be the visitor's pleasure, he may look into the kitchens, and watch the snow-white cooks, the busy sausage-machine, the cleanliness and order which produce the dainties sold on the next floor. Amongst them we must not forget the buns and the plates of oysters, all ready for the overworked shopper, who can only indulge in a fugitive lunch at the counter. But there is a bonafide refreshment-room, also a regular restaurant, where any meal can be had at any hour—a. great comfort to country people, whose business has to be condensed into one day at most. It is not, however, the only oasis for the tired traveller. There is also a charming waiting-room for ladies, of which they make a regular salon, for they there meet friends whom they do not see otherwise from one year's end to another. We are accustomed to hotel acquaintances, beach acquaintances, danco acquaintances, dining-out acquaintances; we have yet to realise the existence of Whiteley acquaintances. Old ladies with bags, young ladies with bags, and newly-married ladies with baskets may here be seen shaking hands and exchanging greetings, or settling down to the recital of their last year's experiences ; and these pcoplo often—indeed, mostly— do not know each other outside the doors of Whiteley's. But Whiteley's is not merely le bonheur cles dames ; the other sex is just as well provided for. Besides the reading-room common to both genders, there is the gentlemen's waiting-room ; and mankind can buy clothes without end. He has only to walk through the special departments devoted to him, and he is equipped from the shoes or boots on his feet to the smartly-polished beaver on his head. If he is in the army, and about to fight, Mr. Whiteley will furnish him with a complete military outfit. It is an inspiring thought that, even on the field of battle, men carry bits of Whiteley with them. Heroes or dandies, he clothes them with perfect impartiality—an almost godlike indifference. Nothing baffles him. It is said that a certain gentleman, on the eve of departure for India, having bought his outfit of this marvellous man, remarked that that there was one deficiency he had not supplied. "What is that?" asked Mr. Whiteley. "A wife," returned his customer. But nothing could overcome this heroic tradesman's will. tie forthwith introduced the said gentleman to a very pretty girl; the match was struck, a flame was tho consequence, the couple married, and "lived happy ever afterwards"—or we will hope so. Neither elephants nor secondhand coffins, both of which articles have been (for fun) required of him, have perturbed bim in the least. He supplied the demand in both cases, in the latter instance rather to the discomfort of the purchaser, who was giving a dinner-party when the coffin arrived, and he was called out to examine the huge parcel. Waiters, or, as the saying goes, gentlemen for parties, aro hired out by him. It is a comfort that in a social i dilemma we have but to call him in, and I our troubles are at an end. Indeed it has

been proverbial, if one cannot get what one wants, to say, " Have you asked Whiteley ?" Amusements also he liberally provides. Every necessity of theatricals, conjurors, marionettes, entertainments of all kinds, he places at our disposal. It was he who undertook the late International Fancy Fair at the Albert Hall, in which the stallkeepers wore the costumes of the different nations they represented. Theatre tickets and railway tickets have not been forgotten by him ; neither has photography. Musical instruments he possesses in every .variety, from the pianos he himself makes to the new pianista, which plays itself by the aid of a a roll of punctured paper. As for the child they are indeed well off, the toys being most tempting, especially at Christmas, when Whiteley's Christmas Bazaar is opened. The very footmen are not forgotten, but have a special waiting-room for themselves, and, in the season, there must be a regular show of these haughty menials, from the powdered flunkey downwards to the jerky " tiger," with his tall hat and shining buttons. In fact, Mr. Whiteley affords us such wide field for discourse that the difficulty is what not to say. As has been written of him, " He will build you a house, he will furnish it, and, if needs be, he will take care of it while you are out of town ; he will supply you with coals at two shillings pur ton discount from the advertised priced of the day ; he will insure you your life, and he will bo your banker, and will erect a tombstone over your grave when you die. If, while you are in Mr. Whiteley's, you suddenly take it into your head to go to America, you have no occasion to go rushing off to the shipping-office ; Mr. Whiteley will secure a berth for you," &c. The organisation which can produce such wonderful results must, we infer, be even more remarkable than its results. It is so indeed. Mr. Whiteley has recognised the value of personal supervision, though the modern spirit of wholesale dealing, of which one would have thought his shop a striking instance, might easily have led him into the error of discarding it. Again, he has perceived that pleasure is a needful element in all human lives, including those of shopassistants. For those who live on his premises he has arranged boating, cricket, football, gymnastics, singing, and dramatic clubs. A well-regulated library has also been started for the employees, and for the sum of one shilling and sixpence they are not ouly entitled to obtain books therefrom, but also to get their boots blacked and receive medicine in case of ilinesn. A dance is given at Christmas for the servants and workers, at which as many of the superior assistants as like are at liberty to attend. Besides this, the men have a club-room, a reading-room, containing a piano, where they may "smoke, and another where they can write. These are in a huge building, built for the purpose, that holds 320 men. It contains five floors, down the whole length of which run dormitories, each of which accommodates six persons. The general superintendents are, however, privileged persons, and sleep only two together. It is their duty to collect the papers from the "desire box," or receptacle of requests to go out. Any infringement of rules, even to an alteration in the order of sitting at meals, is fined. The boot-boxes which reoeive the men's dirty boots on their entry, are another remarkable feature of the house. These wooden cases stand one upon the other, in high piles, like ramparts,- and give some faint idea of the numberless feet that are needed to carry on the business. There is a presiding spirit, in the form of a housekeeper, who is proud to show you her stores of linen in the drying" and " clean linen" rooms, and who has a private sitting-room downstairs, whilst the hall-porter has his own apartment. Overhead is the infirmary, whence, if needful, patients are sent on to the hospitals, to most of which Mr. Whiteley subscribes. The rest of his employees are lodged in four of the thirty-four houses he owns in Westbourne Grove Terrace, whilst two other buildings elsewhere are devoted to apprentices only. The women, who have every comfort, even pianos, are placed in the remaining houses. From 300 to 400 assistants remain over Sundays, when they have a special service held for them. The hours of work are long ; they are all at their business at eight, betore which time a special messenger has been sent to the postoffice, whence ho brings the letters in two bags, bo that orders may be read as soon as possible, and long before ordinary post time. Their work lasts, with short intervals, until supper-time, which is about eight or halfpast eight o'clock. They have abundant meals, and plenty of them, but they have short time to eat them in. This is inevitable where there are so many to feed ; as it is, they have to come down in two parties. It must also be remembered that there are separate meals for the servants, and again for Mr. Whiteley and the buyers for the firm, who eat in quite another room. The food is excellent, both joints and beer being supplied. Indeed, there is a joint-room on the basement, where the joints are kept. Twenty-six professional carvers are kept on the premises, and for the assistants alone there are four men cooks.

Besides the people belonging to the establishment there are many who live elsewhere, and a multitude of out-workers. Of those who work on the premises, some may bo seen on the upper floors of the shops in Westbourne Grove, mounting artificial flowers, cutting-out, tailoring, &o. Many are employed in the printing, which is done here, not to speak of tho articles demanded by his customers. . Mr. Whiteley prints all his own bills, prospectuses, &c. The counting-houses, which are the hearts and brains of tiie establishment, are wonderful to see. Strict silence is enjoined in them. Every convenience is given to the clerks. They have for their use a telegraph, two private telephones, and another telephone to the city. As for the parcel-office, the foreign department, the country-order-office, the packing-room, and all the countless "stock departments," who could describe them all ? Many of them are to be found on the basement, which is lit by electric light. Lifts are used where it is necessary. In fact, it seems that Mr. Whiteley has thought of every possible convenience for those under him. His continued presence among them spurs them to do their best; indeed, as our guide remarked, he leaves them no chance of forgetting him, for his portrait is .hung up in all the dining-rooms, and in every conceivable place where there is room his face looks down, in effigy, if not in reality.

We think it natural to award praise to a great statesman or a great general; but why do we do so ? Because of his power of organisation, his control of thousands, and his spirit of enterprise. Surely, then, the same ovation is Mr. Whiteley's due, since all these qualities are his. In his own way, he is as great as they ; and it is a very great way, too. Not only does he provide many commodities at a much lower rate and better quality then other tradesmen, but he employs thousands of poor people, gives them comforts and pleasures, and thus both elevates their morals and makes them selfsupporting. We have recognised in him a great tradesman of the day ; we have yet to recognise a great philanthropist. There is no doubt that in the far future, William Whiteley will be ranked as a semi-god, and his shops as the eighth wonder of tho world. Meantime, he is certainly justified in his proud consciousness when he surveys his vast concern, and feels that it is the result of his own unrivalled exertions. Like Nebuchadnezzar of old, he may say, " Is not this the great Babylon which I have built?"