ACCOUNTS, MEMORANDA AND TABLES. 143 



CHAPTER XIV. 



ACCOUNTS, MEMORANDA AND TABLES. 



EVERY manager of a gasworks is called upon to preserve a 

 considerable quantity of records, whether he is responsible 

 for the books or otherwise. And it is not too much to 

 say that the extent of his commercial success will be 

 influenced by his ability to keep methodical and systematic 

 records of the various matters, financial, technical and 

 informative, that are required, for reference at any time, 

 either for his own use or for that of the directors. There 

 is a very common prejudice, to the effect that a complete or 

 systematized plan of noting down everything likely to be of 

 use, in a place where it can be promptly found when 

 wanted, must necessarily involve an enormous and un- 

 reasonable amount of labour, whereas the reverse is the 

 real truth. The most troublesome system is the one that 

 involves considerable time and patience before the most 

 ordinary details can be extracted, or an immense 

 amount of searching through unindexed pages. I 

 can remember a time when the gasworks manager 

 was apt to look upon those engaged in the office 

 or laboratory as inferior beings, whom a just dispen- 

 sation of Providence had placed in a position suited to 

 their abilities, and so far as he was personally concerned 

 he regarded bookkeeping and accounts as subjects scarcely 



