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during the past eight years. In 1881 the Life Fund stood at £842,522 against the advanced figures quoted above, which show an increase of £434,744, or over 50 per cent. The number of policies issued in 1881 was 900, insuring £420,168. Last year, as shown, the number was 2,036, insuring £834,315. These figures speak for themselves, and tell a far more forcible tale than all the eulogy that could be pronounced upon them. This office is purely mutual, and participating members are entitled to vote at the meetings of the company. At the same time there is no liability attached to the membership. After three years its policies are non-forfeitable, and are indisputable after five. Sea voyages and foreign residence do not involve extra charges, except in specially named unhealthy climates. Then there is a temperance section, in which all benefits of increased longevity and profits therefrom are divided.

THE MUTUAL RESERVE.

MR. HAYWARD INTERVIEWED.

The Mutual Reserve Fund Life AssociMutual Reserve ation is the phenomenon of the insurance Fund, Life Asso-world. Its record and its achievements ciation of New York. of the first eight years of its existence are singular and unique. Last year the proposals received were more than 13,000 in number. The different reports presented at the annual meeting held at the chief office, Poster Building, New York, on the 23rd day of January last, are marvellous, from an insurance standpoint. The following is extracted from them. First on the list comes the record for 1888:

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From this statement it will be seen that the average amount of the policy issued is £642. In point of fact, the new business secured by this office in 1888 was about equal in amount to one quarter of all the new business secured by the 82 British offices in 1887, according to Bourne's Grand Totals.

The premium income was £524,804. Of this amount £347,638 was expended in death claims, £101,149 was added to the reserve surplus, and the balance was used in expenses of management. The Comptroller, Hon. H. J. Remmund, in his report states that this was the actual income received by the Association. He says:Assuming, however, that the association had received the maximum amounts that could have been collected from all the new members in admission and medical examination fees, as per business written and accepted during the year, and had then disbursed the same to the various agents and medical examiners (who have actually retained these fees as their compensation), the association would have paid to agents admission fees amounting to 129,042dols. (£26,552), and to medical examiners examination fees amouting to 32,220dols. (£6,629), thereby making the total expenses but 640,843,45 dols, (£131,860), and the rates of expense for each, £1,000 at risk but £3, 16s. 7d. The Comptroller's report is full of startling figures. From the report of Director of Agencies, we learn that "It does its largest business at home, in the State of New York, where it is best known, as applications for insurance aggregating 10,369,000 dols. were received during the year 1888 from the State of New York."

The reading of such a report naturally excites curiosity to know more, and with the fixed principle in mind that the fountain-head is the source of true information, our interviewer was instructed to call upon the general manager for Great Britain, Mr. W. H. Hayward, at the chief office for Great Britain, 90, Queen Street, Cheapside, E.C., and learn from him the springs of the action that result in such remarkable records, and he accordingly reports as follows:

Before

"Mr. Hayward is an intensely earnest man. I had been with him a quarter-of-an-hour, I found that he possessed a great amount of animal magnetism. My first question he answered unhesitatingly.

"How do I account for our progress?" he said, repeating my query. "There are a number of reasons, but principally because the system stands the test of examination, and being much cheaper than any other, and the payments being spread over the year in six portions, enables thousands to avail themselves of its benefits who are blocked out of the old system by its high charges."

"I can quite understand that a man will always buy in the cheapest market, providing the goods are equal; but I should think you would have difficulty in convincing your clients that your system is as secure as what you term the old system."

"There is very little difficulty in convincing any one who is in earnest, and who will give close attention to the evidence we can submit. The experience of all offices goes to show that the cost of pure insurance to them is but about one third of their charges. That is a matter of fact, and as charges are based upon what actually occurs, what can be safer?"

"True, I can understand that, but how is it that so many companies have been wrecked, although their charge for premiums is much greater than yours?"

"No company ever yet failed on account of the death rate it experienced. In all cases you will find speculation, bad investments, or misappropriation, have been the leaks that have made the ships go down. Now, as our reserve surplus which now exceeds £400,000, and which is growing at the rate of nearly £10,000 a month, is amply protected by being trusteed, no calamity can possibly overtake us. Besides the Government supervision of all American companies is almost a guarantee of their security."

"I was going to ask your opinion about the American system of Government supervision. What do you think of it?"

"I think it gives the greatest protection to policyholders possible, for no company can become in the slightest degree shaky, without being brought up 'with a round turn,' as the sailors say. To my own personal knowledge, since 1859 no company has failed in America, that has not made a proportionately fair return to its policy-holders; whilst in this country they are pulled up too late to save anything, and weak offices are allowed to drift on to a hopeless state of ruin."

"How is it then that, proving so good in America, similar supervision has not been adopted here ?"

"An attempt was made to introduce a Bill in Parliament, in 1870, similar to the Insurance Laws of the United States, but the Bill was so opposed and mutilated of what I consider its strongest protective points," continued Mr. Hayward, points," continued Mr. Hayward, "that what was left of it, although certainly a preventive to the formation of bubble companies, yet falls far short of its original intention."

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"I remember the circumstances very well. It was the failures of the notorious" Albert" and "European that brought about such an indignation that people felt something must be done. Was it not?"

"Exactly; but comparatively so little was done that the protection afforded by the Act of 1870 is more or less nominal. This is plainly proven in the failures that have taken place since then.”

"Is the system of insurance as practised by your association under the same supervision and control as the ordinary or old system, in the United States ?"

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'Emphatically yes! but of course its reserves are not valued upon the same basis. The old system base sits premium charges upon the assumption that there will be a continuously increasing cost of mortality as a company grows older, and it makes no allowances for the entrance of new blood in the shape of proposers, or for the exit of any policy-holder except by death. Now it goes without saying that offices are constantly receiving new members, and British experience alone shows that for every policy that falls in by death, two policies are lapsed. In America and the Colonies the lapse rate is even greater than this. The old system's charge is an

anio-mortem one on a theoretical basis; ours is a post-mortem charge on the practical basis, or the actual mortality experienced, thus securing insurance at the lowest possible cost, with ample protection for all possible contingencies in our reserve surplus."

"Am I then to understand that your association, or its system, is as equally protected, in the interests of policy-holders, by the State Insurance Department, as the old system?

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"You are; and the best evidence of this is that it is admitted to do business in all the leading States of the Union, the laws of some of these, such as New York and Massachusetts, being so strict as to have forced out of existence a large number of assessment associations that were not founded on true insurance principles, and consequently could not stand the test of official examination."

"I notice by your report," said I, referring to a copy in my hand, "that you have been specially officially examined no less than eight times."

66 Yes," and a smile of satisfaction stole over his features as he said it. "Our gigantic success has forced us into the fierce light of almost universal public criticism, and we have been subjected to the keenest supervision on that account. The commissioner's reports and they are the highest authority in the land-have in every instance been not only favourable, but almost flattering."

"I should think with such endorsements business would be a "walk over' for you ?"

"We have no difficulty in securing members unless totally biassed and prejudiced, and our record is sufficiently the highest ever attained to attest that. Besides all this, our open mode of doing business welds our members to us with the strongest bands. Every two months we furnish audits of accounts, lists of death claims that have been paid during the past two months, and that are to be paid in the present, and in fact every information, so our members know exactly what is being done with their money. There is no blind pool' here."

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Report credits you with having done a very large business in Great Britain ?"

"The best evidence I can give you is to show you our registers," pressing the knob of the electric bell. "You can see for yourself," said he, when the ponderous volumes were opened before me.

And I did see, as he turned page after page of long lists of names, names of high repute in the city and west end and metropolis generally; names from the provinces, from all quarters-mercantile, professional, military, and otherwise. Then the amounts written after them, many for the full amount issued by the office, £5,000, and hosts for four figures. Names that ran into hundreds, and from hundreds into thousands, as the leaves were turned over.

"Truly," at last said I, "this is a remarkable showing; I had no idea of it."

"Yes," he said, "it is very good, but we have only commenced business here, and yet the British Department headed the list for 1888, and this year gives promise of much greater results than last."

"Considering insular prejudice, it speaks volumes for your system."

"The truth is mighty and will prevail." It is generally supposed that the British public are slow to accept new ideas. Our experience has been the reverse of this. We find they inquire deeply, and sift evidence to the bottom; but once satisfied, they give their allegiance unhesitatingly, and are eager to obtain policies with us. Besides our business in America is greater than ever. Each month of this year has shown increase over the corresponding month of last.

During all this time frequent communications, by speaking tube and otherwise, showed me that others were waiting their turn to see this intensely busy man ; so taking my leave with the usual exchange of amenities I came away. The impressions created in my mind were great and vivid. The evidence in all things I had seen pointed to but one conclusion-as great a future in England as is being achieved in the United States for this mutual and co-operative system of life assurance.

General Items.

Mr. Robert W. Bell, for several years inspector at the London office of the Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Society, has been appointed its resident secretary for Liverpool, in the place of Mr. W. M. Monilaws. The Prudential has in its employ probably the finest agency organisation of any office in the kingdom. Preferment comes only in the regular channel of service and efficiency, and the cause of the great success that has, and is, attending the company is due to its splendid system. We note that Mr. S. Henderson has been appointed superintendent of agents in Jersey.

Mr. George Lyon Bennett, who resigned his position as secretary of the Commercial Union a short time since, has been succeeded by Mr. Henry Mann, whose long connection with the company, and the faithful discharge of his duties, eminently qualifies him for the position. In matters of this sort it is pleasing to note that virtue is not always its own reward, and that ability and experience are sometimes recognised even to the refutation of the text that "A prophet is not without honour, &c." It too frequently happens that genuine talent, because of familiarity, is passed over and ignored when exigencies arise demanding changes, and importations foreign to the office are given positions that could be better filled by those who have become imgrooved, as it were, in them. We congratulate Mr. Mann on his preferment, and the Commercial Union on its selection.

Among the great and little things that go to make up life, recognition of ourselves by friends and fellowworkers is not the least pleasing. Mr. Charles A. Raynsford, who, after twenty-two years' service as provincial secretary of the Gresham Life Office, was made to feel the truth of this statement on his recent retirement from the post, and was presented on behalf of some of the local secretaries of the society, by Mr. Stratford, who fills that position for Norwich, with a handsome testimonial, consisting of a solid silver punch bowl, and a silver fusee-case. The inscription on the punch bowl was commemorative of the good qualities of the recipient, and the occassion of the gift.

Mr.

The Salop Fire Office has appointed Mr. John' William Dent its district agent for Birmingham. Dent's experience, both in fire and life offices, renders fill to the satisfaction of offices and clients. him very capable for the post, which he will no doubt

Owing to the recent amalgamation with the Scottish Metropolitan Life Assurance Company of the Scottish Economic Life Assurance Society, Limited, the following officials who have served in the society whose name is deleted, have received appointments in the former company as follows: London office: Mr. Edward T. Clifford, secretary; Capt. E. E. Mogridge Hudson, chief inspector. Manchester office: Mr. John J. Wood, resident secretary; Mr. H. E. Marriott, district manager (continuing as heretofore). Middlesborough office: Mr. Fred J. Foster, A.C.A., resident secretary.

Aberdeen office: Mr. Thomas Ferguson as resident secretary. He acted in the same capacity for the Scottish Economic for this place. Mr. A. Mennie, inspector. Glasgow office: Mr. Alex C. Rutherford, resident secretary.

On Friday last, the 5th inst., the 75th annual meeting of the members of the Scottish Widows' Fund was held in Edinburgh, under the presidency of Mr. Robert Dundas. The net fund of the society amounted to £9,929,643 on the 31st December last. We shall notice at length at a subsequent date.

The shareholders' annual meeting of the Economic Life Assurance Company was held on the 5th inst. at its offices, New Bridge Street. The annual statement and accounts, and also the report of the valuation for quinquennium ending December 31st, 1888, were presented. The chairman stated that business had been somewhat retarded in the provinces owing to adverse reports having been magnified on account of the Falconer defalcation.

The business of the Scottish Economic Life Assurance Company, Limited, has been transferred to and absorbed by the Scottish Metropolitan Life

Assurance Company, the sanction of the Court of Session having been received.

The Directors' report of the County Fire Office has been issued. It is of a fairly satisfactory nature, and shows increased premiums received.

The 3rd annual report of the Sickness and Accident Company of Edinburgh has been published. We refrain from comment now, as we propose to deal with it in a fuller manner than we have space for this week

New Issues.

CAPEL COURT.

THE NEW ZEALAND MIDLAND RAILWAY COMPANY.-The immense strides which New Zealand has made within the last twenty years, and is still making, is amply sufficient to account for the increasing need of railway facilities in this important colony. Railways all the world over are almost always safe ventures, but in the colonies they have additional help which is unknown in England. That is to say they can nearly always count on Government aid. In the case of the New Zealand Midland Railway Company, the Government have already subsidised the company. Under their contract, the company have a free grant of 2,000,000 acres of land, to be selected by the company, not in alternate blocks, but according to what, in their own opinion, and at their own option, suits their requirements. The Government have further guaranteed that should these lands not bring in £1,250,000 to the company, additional lands shall be granted to bring up the selling value to this figure. But on the other hand, all increase in value enures to the benefit of the company From the valuations of experienced and trustworthy experts, it is estimated that the land will ultimately realise £2,500,000. Mr. Thomas Pavitt, an experienced timber valuer, well known in the colony, has estimated the value of the timber, on a part of the lands granted, as sample of the rest, and finds that the timber on 91,000 acres in the vicinity of the line is worth, apart from the value of the land when cleared, £635,000.

All the evidence points irresistibly to the conclusion that a sound paying traffic may be at once expected. Of the share capital, amounting to £500,000, £250,000 has been already fully subscribed, and expended on work which will form part of the security for the present issue.

This being the record it is not surprising to find such keen business men as Mr. Thomas Salt, M.P., and Mr. E. Brodie Hoare, M.P., among the directors as chairman and vice-chairman respectively. Names like these naturally and inevitably create such a feeling of security that the company will not have to go far afield to find investors anxious to get an allotment. We expect that the shares will speedily rise to a premium.

THE NATIONAL PROVINCIAL TRUSTEES AND ASSETS CORPORATION.-This is an age of imitations. Some are good and go cheaply, while others are so dear and so bad they are best let alone. One would have thought that by this time the public were sufficiently surfeited with Trustee Companies, and that all the business to be acquired by such companies would make but a poor living if divided among any more. But . what does a company promoter care about the ultimate success of a company? All his business is to endeavour to entice investors by sugared words to take up shares. Whether the shares are worth anything to the investor or not, is of no more importance to him than the value of a row of pins. Therefore, it is worse than useless to ask him to examine what chances his proposed company has of making profits for shareholders. Because the Assets Realisation Company, and the Debenture Corporation, and The Trustees, Executcrs, and Securities Insurance Corporation, and The General Assets Purchase, all launched and carried forward by men of wide experience, are successes, what solid

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THE LONDON AND WESTMINSTER BREAD COMPANY. -Here is another instance of this fatal trading upon names, fatal that is to the investor. We expect to see in a short time every stall that vends a pennyworth of bread blossoming forth, in the grandiose language of prospectus literature, as a well-established baker's business. It does occur occasionally to an enquiring mind to ask whether it is the company promoter who seeks out these "well-established businesses,' businesses that seek out the promoter. We can see no legitimate ground advanced to induce people to risk their money in this undertaking.

or the

STAPP WATER GAS PATENTS.-The advent of water gas and the revolution this mode of manufacturing gas is destined to produce and is already producing in the commercial economy of the world, is so enormous that these well-known patents are found to increase enormously in value as a matter of arithmetical proportion. That water gas, on account of the economy in its production, and the superiority and certainty of the result, is superseding coal gas in other than domestic uses has been known for some time to specialists, but we take it that the general public are now also being awakened to the fact, and its superiority as an illuminant, its cheapness (say about one-sixteenth of the price of coal gas), and the absence of the noxious products given off during the combustion of coal gas which so vitiate the breathing air in our rooms and public buildings are certain to make it more and more a favourite. We cannot help remembering in this connection the croakings from time to time of certain pessimists who are accustomed to ask what will become of England when her coal fields are exhausted, and the answer which has always been supplied that long before that time science would have discovered a substitute for coal. Here, then, at all events in one direction, the distillation of gas, has science been silent, silently so far as the general householder is concerned, providing an efficient and cheap mode of superseding the valuable mineral. Space does not permit us to enlarge on the subject of water gas, and we take it for granted that a great many of our readers are now acquainted with the labours and investigations of Mr. Samsson Fox, C.E., which have lately been given wide publicity in the newspaper press. It follows, however, that the patented inventions for the manufacture of this gas should next become matter of public interest and financial enquiry. This company has accordingly been formed to secure and work the water gas patents for the United Kingdom, lately owned by "The Stapp Gas Light and Heat Company" (in America), and now working and in actual use in Chicago, Kansas City, Georgetown, Denver, and Leadville (Colorado). ville (Colorado). The company has acquired the whole patent rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland, with the option of purchase of all the foreign patents for France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, and Portugal now granted, or which may hereafter be obtained by the patentees, and the importance of this concession is manifest when we remember that in some countries coal has to be brought from long distances and at enormous cost. The financial value of patents of this kind so intimately depends on their scientific value, that the opinion of so eminent a specialist as Professor Wanklyn, will be read with interest by investors. This eminent professor of chemistry, also well known as the author of The Gas Engineers' Chemical Manual, and as consulting chemist to nearly every important gas company, has long been held to be the chief authority on gas, and he has certified that "Stapp's Patent Furnace" and arrangement provides the best means for

the proper and economical production of water gas. The well known gasengineer, Mr. Charles Gandon, of the Crystal Palace District Gas Company, is also, in his branch, a tower of strength in the gas world, and he has passed a very high enconium on the merits and value of the invention. The testimony of these two practical scientists is sufficient without further elaboration. The capital of the Company is £150,000, in shares of £1 each. On the directorate are-Mr. W. B. M. Lysley, who is a member of the Athenæum Club, a Barrister of the Inner Temple, and a member of the South Eastern Circuit. As PUMP COURT so readily learns everything about its own people, it is natural to suppose that other things being equal we should look with approval on the presence of this gentleman on the board, but our approval is confirmed by the knowledge that Mr. Lysley is by no means a tyro in gas matters, and this has already been recognised, as we find that he is a director of the Bombay Gas Company. Mr. J. W. Fraser, A.M.I.C.E., Mr. Fraser is consulting engineer to many large companies, particularly gas water and furnace companies, end was formerly partner in the well-known firm of Fraser Brothers, boiler makers. Mr. T. Borradaile, the patentee of Borradaile's Patent Governor, and director Para Gas Company. The company have been fortunate in securing the services of Messrs. Thomas and Hick, a firm of solicitors long and favourably known in connection with company law. We are afraid that too little heed is sometimes paid to the necessity of securing competent advisers aud guides in the intricacies of company law, and many a promising venture has been wrecked either at its very inception, or, still more disappointing and aggravating, just when it begins to reap profits for those who have embarked their money in it. It is not every firm of solicitors, however competent and highly esteemed, that can with safety be entrusted to guide a company safely past the various pitfalls which beset company procedure. It is always, therefore, reassuring to the company critic to find the names of certain firms -among them Messrs. Thomas and Hick-affixed as being the solicitors. We have always been of opinion that it is just as important to see who the solicitors are, as the directors; indeed, in some respects, and for obvious reasons, often more important. For all the reasons above set forth we think that the Stapp Water Gas Patent shares are likely to be eagerly sought, and they should speedily rise to a premium.

THE long expected rise in Yankee American Rails. rails has arrived at last, and judging by the persons engaged in rigging them, there is every likelihood of their continuing the present upward movement. Chicago and Milwaukee Preference have advanced 2, from 105 to 107. Illinois central, 1, from 113 to 114. Ohio and Mississipi, 1, from 218 to 22g, whilst these have been followed by a rise of in each of the following: Louisville, and Nashvills, Chicago, Northern Pacifics, Union Pacifics, Union Pacifics and Lake Shores. So far as the Pacific routes are concerned, I expect each of them to continue their upward movement. Philadelphia and Reading have not advanced with the others, but in spite of unexceptional authority to the contrary, I shall expect to see them make definite and decided progress between now and the next account. Indeed I think that with those who choose to operate in American Rails, this line is as good as any I can mention for an important advance. The account now being adjusted looks like being an exceptionally heavy one, both in British and American Rails, and whilst deprecating any further purchase for the rise, in the first case I am not at all sure that the latter have seen by any means their best prices.

Foreign Railways.

The most noticeable features in this market have been in connection with Nitrate Rails against which there has sprung up a decided spirit of antagonism during the past fortnight. A steady fall has to be chronicled, and the spirit of the movement seems as strong at the moment of writing as it was at the last settlement. As a consequence there will be a very heavy carrying over charge

to be made on existing bargains, and those who determined upon cutting their losses will find their deficiency a substantial one. So far as the Nitrate Railway itself is concerned, the property is as good as ever it was, and believing as I do that these shares are now quoted at their absolutely lowest figure, I should much rather buy than sell. Nitrate Deferred are now selling at 21, 22, and the ordinary are readily to be obtained at a fraction under 24. I question whether the making up price of the last April account will not show any reduction on this figure, but rather that an increase will follow. Mexican Rails have been extensively dealt in, and seem good for a further rise, though traffic receipts have not quite answered expectations. The latest quotations show a slight fall, but this is only a temporary movement brought about more from want of actual demand than anything else.

Market.

South Africans have relapsed considerThe Mining ably since my last, and the "bear 99 now running is evidently a strong one. The ultimate result, however, will be that most of these really valuable securities will take an upward movement in the course of the next few days. The present depreciation in these shares arises from the fact that the output during the month of March was below the sanguine expectations of those who had anticipated a big advance. Still it must not be forgotten that, though hopes have been somewhat dashed with regard to the actual quantity of the output, the gold raised has shown progress. City and Suburban shares have dropped £4, and Durban-Roodeport are also down £1, and the remainder of the Randt series, without exception, show a falling off of more or less importance. Robinsons remain very firm, which is no great wonder considering the optimistical reports sent over from the company. With regard to this company it is proposed to reconstruct and raise the capital to £750,000. When it is considered that this mine originally commenced with a capital of £5,000, afterwards increased to £50,000, it becomes a marvel in history of mining ventures. Domkops, which I recommended last time as a good purchase, can now be obtained for 15s., so that they have fallen in sympathy with other South Africans. My opinion, however, remains unaltered, that they are a really good purchase. In the miscellaneous market little has been doing. Indian Gold have dropped somewhat, but are all good purchases, and the time is not far distant when many of these will be making as many pounds as they are now fetching shillings. Colon Gold are good for an important rise, and, I hear, are likely to fetch 15s. each before many days are over. An important private advice is to the effect that everything at the mine is going on well, and that the work of developing the property warrants even the most sanguine expectations. Esmeraldas have advanced, and there is little wonder that they should do so, considering how favourably the last report speaks of the property. Crushings have commenced in good earnest, and assays of the quartz now being worked return as high a percentage as 5ozs. to 1 ton. As something like only a fourth of this is required for working expenses, it is needless to say that should this report be confirmed, and the strength of the lode continue, that the shares will run up to par. in the course of the next month or Etheridge United, another mine of which I have spoken favourably, is now looking better, and is well reported upon. The following shares should be bought for a rise, Esmeraldas, Etheridge, Oregons, and Colons. The last-named are now 6d. better at 7s. 6d. to 8s. 6d. and are still on the upward move.

LEGAL HONOURS.

MERCATOR.

So.

MR. HARRY TICHBORNE DAVENPORT, barrister, M.P., has been appointed an Unpaid Commissioner in Lunacy. He was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in Michaelmas Term, 1860, and practised on the Oxford Circuit. Mr. Davenport is a magistrate for Staffordshire. He was M.P. for North Staffordshire in the Conservative interest from 1880 till 1885, and he has sat for the Leek Division of that county since 1886.

The LISTS will CLOSE on WEDNESDAY next, 17th, at Four p.m., for both town and Country.

THE NEW ZEALAND MIDLAND RAILWAY CO.

(LIMITED).

ISSUE of £745,000 FIVE PER CENT. FIRST MORTGAGE DEBENTURES (specially secured as stated within).

LLOYDS' BANK (Limited) and the NATIONAL BANK OF NEW ZEALAND (Limited) are instructed to RECEIVE APPLICATIONS for the undermentioned FIRST MORTGAGE DEBENTURES, at the price of £92 10s. per £100 Debenture. In Debentures of £100, £500, and £1,000 at the option of the holder, being part of a creation of £2,200,000, repayable at par at the expiration of 20 years, and redeemable by purchase in the market, at any price not exceeding £105, or by drawings at that price on three months' notice. No further issue will be made pending the completion of the line to Reefton, or until such issue is repaid in the terms of the Trust Deed.

Payable £10 on Application.

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Allotment. 13th May, 1889. 15th July, 1889. 16th September, 1889

Applicants have the option of paying up in full, under discount, at the rate of £4 per cent. per annum. Interest for two and a half years (ie., during construction) will be deposited. Interest will be paid half-yearly, the first payment being made on the 15th October next.

TRUSTEES FOR THE DEBENTURE HOLDERS.

1. Beaumont William Lubbock, Esq., (Messrs. Robarts, Lubbock and Co.)

2. Edmund Charles Morgan, Esq., DeputyChairman of the National Bank of New Zealand, and late Director of the Bank of Bengal.

3. Roderick Pryor, Esq., Hylands, {Chelms

ford.

4. Sir Frederick A. Weld, G.C.M.G., late
Premier of New Zealand.
SOLICITORS FOR THE TRUSTEES-Paine,
Son and Pollock, 14, St. Helen's Place, E.C.

DIRECTORS.

Thomas Salt, Esq., M.P., Chairman (Chairman of Lloyds' Bank, Limited).

E. Brodie Hoare, Esq., M.P., Deputy-Chairman (Chairman of the National Bank of New Zealand, Limited, and Director of Lloyds' Bank, Limited).

Sir Charles Clifford, Bart. (Chairman of the New Zealand Trust and Loan Company, Limited).

H. V. Hart-Davis, Esq. (Messrs. Hoare, Wilson and Co., London).

C. Shirreff B. Hilton, Esq. (Messrs. Miles Brothers and Co., London; also Christchurch and Timaru, New Zealand). Walter Chamberlain, Esq., Harborne Hall, Birmingham, will join the Board, subject to the sanction of a general meeting, in accordance with the Articles of Association.

BANKERS.

Lloyds' Bank (Limited), 72, Lombard Street, E.C., and all Branches.

The National Bank of New Zealand (Limited), 71, Old Broad Street, E.C., and New Zealand. BROKERS-Messrs. Coleman & May, 2, Tokenhouse-buildings, E.C. SOLICITORS-Messrs. Burchell & Co., 5, The Sanctuary, Westminster. AUDITORS-Messrs. Cooper, Bros., and Co., 14, George Street, Mansion House. ENGINEER-Robert Wilson, Esq., M.I.C.E.' Joint Consulting Engineer to the Government of New Zealand, 7, Westminsterchambers, S.W. SECRETARY-Æneas R. McDonell, Esq., 79, Gracechurch Street, E.C.

ABRIDGED PROSPECTUS. The Company was incorporated for the purpose of constructing the above-mentioned railway under a contract,dated 17th January, 1885, entered into by the Governor of New Zealand, on behalf of her Majesty the Queen, under Acts of the New Zealand Parliament, and since assigned to the Company, which contract has since been superseded by a contract with the Governor of New Zealand, dated the 3rd day of August, 1888, under which the Company has secured additional advantages. Of the share capital, amounting to £500,000, £250,000 has been fully subscribed and already expended on work which will form a part of the security for the present issue, as hereafter explained.

Under this contract the Government have subsidised the Company by a free grant of upwards of 2,000,000 acres of land. This land is not to be taken in alternate blocks (as is so often the case), but may be selected by the Company at their option, within a very large area of the Middle Island specially reserved by the Government for that purpose. The Government have guaranteed that should these lands not bring in £1,260,000 to the Company, additional lands shall be granted to bring up the selling value to that figure.

From the valuations made in the Colony it is anticipated that the land, when the whole line is made, will realise at least £2,500,000. All increase in value arising from any source belongs to the Company, without in any way reducing the above guarantee. Mr. Thomas Pavitt, of Christchurch, timber valuer, estimates that the timber alone on the 91,000 acres, in the vicinity of the line now to be built (out of a large acreage under timber included in the Company's option) is worth, apart from the value of the land when cleared, £635,000. The timber consists chiefly of red and white pine with birch, and there is a large and increasing demand for these woods in the colony and Australia.

The gross receipts of the Greymouth Government line, of which this line is a direct extension, were £3,602 per mile for the financial year ending 31st March, 1888, and when the accounts for the year ending March, 1889, are published, it is believed this figure will be maintained. It is estimated that an annual gross receipt of only £1,100 per mile on the Reefton section would pay 8 per cent. upon the capital required for this work.

The security for the present issue of £745,000 will be :

Railway, already constructed, out
of first issue of Share Capital,
including rolling stock, sur-
veys, &c.
Railway, to be constructed and
equipped according to contract
out of the proceeds of this
issue
Land, about 300,000 acres to be
granted to the Company in con-
sideration of above expenditure,
and taken at waste land value
of 10s. per acre..
Timber on only 91,000 acres in
the immediate neighbourhood
of the line now to be con-
structed, separately valued at

£220,000

545,000

150,000

635,000

Total value of security.........£1,550,000 Interest at 5 per cent. per annum for two and a half years will be secured on the present issue by a deposit in the hands of the Trustees of a sum sufficient to discharge the same.

A draft of the trust deed, securing the Debentures, and a copy of the contract between the Governor of New Zealand on behalf of her Majesty the Queen and the Company, can be seen at the Offices of the Company. Applications in the form accompanying the prospectus, together with a deposit of £10 per cent. on the amount applied for, must be forwarded to Lloyds' Bank (Limited), 72, Lombard Street, E.C., or to the National Bank of New Zealand (Limited), 71, Old Broad Street.

Full prospectuses and forms of application can be obtained from the Bankers, or at the Offices of the Company, No. 79, Gracechurch Street, E.C.

12th April, 1889.

Public Companies.-To Solicitors.

Richard Jordan, 120, Chancery Lane,

Public Companies' Registration Agent, &c., Continues to render assistance to the Profession in all matters pertaining to the Formation and Registration of Joint Stock Companies.

MEMORANDUMS AND ARTICLES OF AssoCIATION entrusted to him will be carefully perused, and printed with accuracy and expedition.

DRAFT ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION, printed wide for alteration, 3s. 6d. per copy. REGISTERS OF MEMBERS, and all other books required by Joint Stock Companies. A large assortment always in stock. SHARE CERTIFICATES, COMMON SEALS, &c., &c., engraved to any Design at the shortest possible notice.

Now ready, Twelfth Edition, 2s. 6d. post free, THE JOINT STOCK COMPANIES' HANDYBOOK. By R. JORDAN. To be had of the Author, as above.

WM. CLOWES AND SONS

LIMITED,

LAW PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS,
27, Fleet Street, London, E.C.
(Six doors East of Inner Temple Lane).

Now ready, domy 8vo, cloth 10s.,
THE NEW LAW AND PRACTICE OF

Railway and Canal Traffic: Being the RAILWAY AND CANAL TRAFFIC ACT, 1888, and the RULES of PROCEDURE in the Court of the Railway and Canal Commission. With Notes and Cases, and containing References to other Statutes relating to Railways and Canals. By ROBERT WOODFALL, of the Inner Temple, and the South Wales Circuit, Barrister-at-Law.

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price, post free, 12s. 6d., The Agricultural Holdings Act 1883, and other Statutes, relating to Distress, Replevin, Notice to Quit, &c. With a Concise Summary, and Ninety-three Forms, being Forms of Leases, Substituted Agreements, Awards, Notices, &c. And an Appendix containing the Ground Game Act, the Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture, Scale of Compensation approved by the Chamber of Agriculture, &c. By J. M. LELY, Esq., Editor of Woodfall's "Landlord and Tenant," and E. R. PEARCE-EDGCUMBE, Esq., Barristerat-Law.

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