Posted by John Wilson on January 05, 2021 at 02:27:58 user hugo.
In Reply to: Re: Beckfoot Plumbing posted by John Nichols on January 04, 2021 at 12:30:08:
Re Beckfoot plumbing , it has a well found by a dowser according to Nancy (PP13) so presumably a pump in the yard or the pantry? But have we plumbed the depths: how about the lavatory? Would country houses and farmhouses rely on their own septic tanks? Surely not outdoor long drops?
Re lighting, the references in PM all seem to refer to candles or kerosene (paraffin) lamps. So no electric light; either reticulated or from a local house power supply in a powerhouse by the house (low voltage DC from batteries charged by an engine generator set during peak hours in the evening?)
The references to Captain Flint telephoning to Colonel Jolys when he "violently joggled the bracket' (PP33) indicate a manual exchange with the telephones powered down the line by the exchange battery (normally 24 volt in New Zealand, though automatic exchanges were 50 volt). Here previously only smaller country manual exchanges with LB or Local Battery telephones had two 1½ volt dry cells - a "No 6 cell" the size of a milk bottle (see link with picture, if it works). You would call the operator with one long ring and a shutter would drop down on the board. The Beckfoot telephone would be on a pair of open wires on poles back to the exchange, which would supply DC to the phone. PS: the phone rings in the hall (PM1; one phone and no extensions?) And party lines were frequently code ringing, though in the early 1950s we were on an automatic line (Wellington 48-960) with selective ringing (ringing our phone only) to the three or four parties on the line. The NZ postwar exchanges from Britain normally had a few two-party lines with selective ringing (by ringing on either leg of the line to earth)
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