When the times are very slack and there is nothing to do, the broker's chief occupation consists in "having a look round," which means that he explores the markets with a view to working up business in unexpected quarters, and having a series of chats with as many of his old friends as he may happen to meet. The only important duty of a dull day is luncheon, which may possibly include fifty up at billiards. When the Central London Railway was first opened, a fashion set in of lunching in the West End, but the novelty quickly palled, and now the City clubs and restaurants are as full as ever of Stock Exchange members, who find that they meet more of their clients there than they did in the West, and are able to gather information, views, and hints which frequently turn out to be of value. Moreover, the broker is near his office in the event of an important client calling to see him, and altogether it is more convenient to be close at hand than in the faraway West End. The afternoon passes quickly, or seems to do so, from the fact that the Stock Exchange closes promptly at four o'clock. One of the most remarkable developments of recent years in the Stock Exchange system is the extension of private telephones, and these wires play a most important part in the broker's life of the present day, especially during the afternoon. Not that the wires are entirely confined to brokers, but they, of course, have far more use for them than jobbers, who, dealing in one class of stocks and shares, can appeal to a much more limited circle. The broker's necessities in this direction are bounded only by his clients and their importance. Numbers of flourishing firms owe no small part of their success in business life to their enterprise in the direction of private telephone wires to individual clients, and the great landlords in the neighbourhood of the House have been quick to seize the opportunity which presents itself for getting big rents for small premises. The Stock Exchange Managers themselves are well to the front in the arena of competition, and between £100 and £200 a year is demanded for the rent of one small room and telephone close to Capel Court. By this means a broker and his client are in constant touch with one another--much more so than would be the case if the general telephone alone had to be relied upon--and a fair proportion of the day is spent by the broker and his staff in reporting fluctuations to clients and receiving their instructions. After luncheon, a client, so it is said, feels more tolerant, more disposed to increase his price if the shares he wants to buy are not obtainable at his original limit, more disposed to accept a fraction less if his first selling order should have proved at an impracticably high price.