Aristocracy in Trade.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 15, 19 January 1887, Page 4

Aristocracy in Trade.

Excuaxoi; and barter, profit and loss, the business of buying and selling, of catering in one or other of the many sided methods of trade for the needs of their fellow citizens aro matters which daily make larger demands upon the thoughts, time, and occupations of all mannerol people. Many fresh proofs are constantly forthcoming of tbia incontrovertible fact. Some are merely suspected, others aro posi ively known. Only a whisper has gone abroad of the great duko who is supposed to be the sleeping partner in one of tho most colossal of London shops; it i. not gonerally known that the princely revenues of another are largnly dependent on the salo ol healing waters, or that a third doe 3 a fino business aa a house agent and keepa several hotels. But all tho world can buy wine from one brother-in-law of a Koyal_ Princess, and employ another n_ their broker in stocks and shares. A m»rqnia now holding high office sella hia coals in the open market, and his w.rggOß. which bring the coal-sacks bear hia august named upon the shafts. An carl, whoso peerage dates from the reigns of the Plautagetie's boldly piinta hia coronet and initials on tli9 improved hansom c_bs which with much enterprise ho has put upon tho London streets. Ho haa found many imitators in cab-owning, although all do not run as straight or achieve the same success. Tho honourable scion of a noble house who figured in tho police court tho othor day, and who gave his address aa Belgravo Squaro, was no ornament to the cab rank, much loss to his family. It is not easy to foresee the lengths to which the new movement will go, or tho changea it will bring about. Tho crowding of all tho regular avenuea of professional employ mont has driven many to the byways, and blue-blooded aristocrats accept eerviee in positions which would have been thought quite infra dig. a generation or two ago, Wise people in tho uppor indigent ulaeaes, thohigh-born paupers who cannct make both ends meet on a thousand or two par annum, may bo expected to apprentice to aomo humblo calling tho sons they cannot provide for otherwise, or tho daughters for whom suitors still tarry. .The levelling proce3a ia at work at both ends, The old leaders, the grandees who stood aloof, aro coming down to tako their part in tho arena of daily life, it is but a step from coronatod cabs and coalcarts to billhoada and shop fio-its bearing historic names and ancestral coats of arms. At the othor end we havo the elevation of tha roturier to heights undreamt of by our grandfathers. A dressmaker's daughter ia presented at Court; a prosperous tradesman, who has dono good Eervico to tho Caaservative cause, is elected to one of tho most exclusive and aristocratic of political cluba. We must look for still moro startling surprises from the growing universality of trade.