WCP57

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset.

July 22^nd. 1902

My dear Will¹

I am glad you are at Rugby, & hope you will get a berth there. I saw a par[agraph]. in the paper the other day, about some great "Electrical Eng. Works" at Rugby which I suppose are yours. Are they manufacturing — that is Engine Works &c. If so I should think it would be very useful to you unless you are wanted only for office-work. Carter was here on Sunday & he mentioned incidentally that a man from Southampton had called on him on business a few days ago, & had told him they very much wanted a really good Electrical Engineering Firm at Southampton — Carter did not pay [2] much attention to it at the time, but it now occurred to him that it might be useful to you, if you told your firm about it. I asked him to make some further inquiries about it, & will let you know the result.

As to the house I cannot yet make up any useful statement as there are a lot of heavy bills to come in ‘this’ month, — but then I shall see better how we stand, and if needful I can borrow say £200 of the bank here, on security of the deeds of this house, Corfe View, which being let for 7 years will really pay it back ^{in four years or less.} We are now getting the floors down, & had have a man at work doing all outside painting, & then he will glaze the windows. Then we will get an estimate for all [3] the plastering of the whole of upstairs rooms, kitchen & offices, — and put in iron "mantel-registers" in all the bedrooms, which are both pretty & cheap, & can be painted any colour to suit the rooms, which will all be done with "Hall’s Sanitary Washable distemper, — splendid stuff and easy to put on. Thus the whole upstairs will be both habitable & pretty, & one of the Rooms ^{that over Dining Room} may have the Drawing Room furniture put in, & will be a delightful room for visitors on account of the view.

Then downstairs I will finish my study & bedroom, & leave the other two rooms to be finished slowly after we are in. This will be best, because Mr. Curtis Sen^r has bought for me at a Dockyard sale at Portsmouth ^{last week} over a thousand square feet of thin teak boards which will be sufficient, I think, to completely panel [4] the Dining Room, and put a Dado round the Hall, & perhaps round the D r Room also, — so that the delay may be ultimately an advantage. The Teak has not come yet, but the price is less than common deal, and if only one joiner is kept on at it, with Percy if he likes to stay, I can manage to pay them out of income when all heavy bills are paid. When finished the house alone will certainly be worth £2000, & with land £3000 — as there is nothing equal to it that I know of anywhere near Parkstone, — & the Hall and dining room, with teak, will be almost unique in such a sized house.

By leaving those 2 rooms to be finished gradually, we shall reduce the immediate expenses, by the two most expensive fair[?] places &c. as well as walls and ceilings, all of which can be left, but can probably be finished by ‘Xmas. That is my Programme, & I think it is not bad. The garden is full of roses now & the Orchard full of Sweet-briar blossoms & the Lilies in Pond & Greenhouse are beginning to flower.

Your affectionate Pa | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]