THE ROYAL EXCHANGE CLOCK.
It is a common saying in the City and elsewhere that "Time is money," and we cannot wonder at the existence of the maxim, when we look at the cost, of the representative of time at the Royal Exchange—no less than £2605 0s. 8d. having been paid for the Exchange Clock. This sum is at the rate of about £217 per hour, taking the clock to consist of the usual number of hours, or nearly £40 per minute, if we make a calculation rather more minute.
The cost of the Clock is made up of a variety of items, which, for the enlightenment of the public, we subjoin.
| £ s. d. | |
| Clock | 700 0 0 |
| Alterations | 224 18 6 |
| Bells and Chimes | 615 17 4 |
| Alterations | 290 0 0 |
| Recasting | 650 0 0 |
| Refitting | 124 4 10 |
| ——————— | |
| £2605 0 8 |
It must be inferred from this, that after the Clocks had been purchased for £700, it resembled the donkey "what wouldn't go," and as there was nobody to cry "Gee Wo!" with the expenditure, £224 18s. 6d. was sunk in alterations. As if the Clock itself was not sufficiently costly, it was proposed to convert it into a toy by having bells and chimes attached to it, which have already caused an outlay to the tune of upwards of One Thousand Pounds—a very pretty tune, no doubt, but hitherto the only tune to which the Bells and Chimes have contributed, for they cannot be got into play anyhow. The Common Council, however, will not admit there has been anything wrong in the matter, because "Professor Airey declares the bells and clock the most beautiful specimens of workmanship ever seen." We should have thought that bells and clocks were to be heard rather than seen; and that a clock, like the costermonger's horse, might be excused for being a "rum un to look at," if it's being a "good un to go" could be relied upon. The approval of Professor Airey may be very satisfactory as far as it goes, but until we can look upon the loss of £2605 0s. 8d. as an airy nothing, we can hardly reconcile ourselves to the facts we have called attention to.