A HAWKER'S FORTUNE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7691, 11 January 1909, Page 1

A HAWKER'S FORTUNE.

The history of Mr Solomon Andrews, | whose recently died at Cardiff at the age of seventy-three, provides a fascinating romanc© of fortune. Beginning life as a hawker of home-made sweets m the streets of Cardiff, he, m fifty years, amassed great wealth and pos- j sessions. Ke conld neither read nor | write, yet till the end retained that keen business instinct that brought him such prosperity. Mr Andrews was' a native of Trowbridge, and went to Cardiff fifty years ago, beginning his career as a street vendor. Pie invested his savings m cabs, and was some 1 years later able to establish his own carriage-building factory. Lines of omnibuses were started by Mr Andrews from Cardiff to Llandaff and Penarth, and from High Street to the Bute Docks m 1870. The Cardiff tramways started opposition, but found their rival such a keen competitior that about 1888 the company came to terms with him, and bought everything connected with his business except what was required for the Penarth line of omnibuses, which is still run by his firm. The enterprise started by Mr Andrews extended to Manchester, Plymouth, Portsmouth and London, and his making of the omnibus wheels the same width as the tram lines resulted m an action being brought against him by the Salford Corporation for damage to their lines and to their business. Litigation, however, ended m Mr Andrews's favour. It was about 1888 that Mr Andrews -extended his business to London, where he ran a line of omnibuses between the Elephant and Castle and the Angel, Islington. These omnibuses were known as "The Star," and were the first to run from the Angel over London Bridge for Id. A huge business developed, and eleven years later it was turned into a company. Some of the finest business premises m Cardiff were erected by MiAndrews, who also opened a number of coffee taverns m different parts of the town. So vast was the business Mr Andrews built up that m Cardiff alone he had a building department, a coach-building factory, cabs, omnibuses, a- large furniture-removing and undertaking business, twenty or thirty coffee taverns and shops, the latter including confectionery, grocery, ironmongery, drapery, and fruiterer's businesses. About 1892 Mr Andrews purchased an estate at Pwllheli, and transformed it into a modern wateringplace. This commercial enterprise extended even to the purchase, m 1906, of a colliery at Brynmenin.