There are three ways of obtaining the use of carriages: 1. By hiring them for a short period, as a few days or weeks. 2. By taking them on lease for a term of years. 3. By purchasing them ready made or to order. The first two ways are now going out of date as a general rule. They are, of course, the most expensive. Any one requiring a conveyance for a few days, or a week or two, had better have a cab; and as for taking them on lease, well, about four years’ hire-money would purchase the vehicle outright. So, all things considered, it would appear the most economical and convenient to purchase the carriage to start with, and when it is no longer of any use there will at least be a second-hand carriage to dispose of. As a rule, carriages are not built to order. The customer either chooses one from the stock, or selects one very nearly completed and has it finished to suit his own taste. This, of course, requires a very large capital to be invested in the business of a coach-builder, and, as competition has of late years greatly reduced the price of vehicles without a corresponding reduction in the cost of their production, the manufacturer naturally desires that his business should be as nearly as possible a ready-money one, otherwise he will have to do as many small, and even makers with a fair business, had to do on the introduction of this system, viz. shut up shop and take to something else to earn his living by. People often marvel at the great cost of carriages, but when they have read of the numberless processes each vehicle has to go through there will be no longer food for surprise, but wonder that they do not cost more. After a carriage is purchased a knowledge of how to preserve it from the various atmospheric and other influences, and how best to keep it in good order, is very necessary; for if great care is not exercised in the housing and cleaning of a vehicle its beauty will be utterly destroyed. In order to attain this knowledge it is requisite to remember of what the vehicle is composed—as wood, metal, leather, hair, cotton, silk, linen, paint, varnish, &c.