ACCOUNTS, MEMORANDA AND TABLES. 145 



acquainted with the usual rules for entering, posting, etc., 

 the difference between "Cr." and "Dr.," the objects and 

 position of the journal, ledger, cash-book, etc. A usual 

 plan is to start with a specimen of each class of transaction 

 and to follow it through the books, till it gets somewhere 

 or other, but it will be more convenient, for the present 

 purpose, to take a specimen statement of account and to 

 work backwards to the original transaction. And it is 

 intended that the forms and tables given should be sug- 

 gestive of the lines to be followed, rather than blindly 

 copied, and that they may be of some assistance in enabling 

 the existing accounts to be improved, or a new system laid 

 out in a form suited to the size and other circumstances of 

 the works concerned. 



When the manager is also expected to act as clerk, 

 accountant and collector, it should be clearly understood 

 that he cannot practice the formalities and requirements 

 that are quite proper, and, indeed, necessary, in an office 

 where twenty or more clerks are engaged. This does not 

 mean that he cannot keep accounts accurately and care- 

 fully, but that every endeavour should be made to assist 

 and facilitate his labours, so that the office and clerical 

 work does not encroach too much on the managerial 

 department, the proper control and supervision of the daily 

 operations and of buying and selling. Loose leaf ledgers 

 and meter books, duplicate books, cards and other modern 

 improvements, are a great help, if not ridden to excess; but 

 it is quite possible to spend two hours in saving the work 

 of one. Using a suitable system, the whole records inci- 

 dental to a small gasworks can be properly entered up in 

 the course of an hour or two each day. Of the two evils, 

 it is better to have large profits indifferently recorded rather 

 than poor results elegantly kept, but there is no obligation 



