LONDON GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 101, 30 April 1898, Page 4 (Supplement)

LONDON GOSSIP.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) : '' ■ March 18, 189 S. • THE LIPTON BOOM.

in a :name?' A good deal Sometimes, arid: apparently -.the name oi Lipton \i equal to about fifty million Sterling and mty*W&3& sending people off their mental balance for 'a space. Sir Thomas Lzpton is the fortunate owner of ; some 300 odd general provision retailing establishments scattered promiscuously, over Gieat, Britain. He desired for reasons best known, to himself to let the general public share in the profit's of his gigantic undertaking and converted it into a limited liability company with a share capital., of ,££,000,000. i The prospectus duly made its appearance last week and disclosed the fact that the share capital was divided equally into .Ordinary and Five Per Cent,- Cumulative; preference shares; of £1 each, and that in addition" thfere .would be. an issue of £ 500,000 lW per cent. ..Debenture stock.: One-third of each issue was ear-marked to the vendor as part payment of tlie purchase price of his business, viz., £2,466,666, and hi addition £ 53,:;3f of the Debenture stock, 166,000 l'refference Shares, and 166,000 Ordinaries had been applied for and allotted to the directors, employees, and friends. 80 the public were only asked to take up a quarter .of a million di\ Debenture Stock, 500,607 'Prefs.' arid a like number of Ordinaries, the latter being issued ;at 25/ apiece.' 'Did the public jump at, the chance offered■?' llather. -It may be

cnanc js'did with truth that people went Lipton mad f or^ two or three days. Within four hoiirsof the appearance of the prospectus the entire share capital had been subscribed . several times over, and when, the lists were finally cTjssd on Thursday it was estimated that close upon, fifty million pounds' worth of shares had been applied,for. During the time the lists were open the National Bank of Scotland, in Threadrieedle-street, was. in a state of siege from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and postal and telegraphic applications poured in by the sack every hour during* the 'days. The bank engaged a large stait of special clerks to cope v.'ith tht-task of opening- and tabulat--1 ing applications.and at Lipton's head < establishment in- City Road a special ' building, was erected to house the necessary staff of. examiners, \ classifiers, etc. The task of classification and tabulation will occupy fully a week, and then the business o& allotifeer.t will have to be faced.' This little 36b .vrili probably keep-the'directors at work for quite three weeks. The Lipton scramble is perhaps .unparalleled in the annals of company promotion. 1 dp not think that even the. great Allsopp transformation caused such widespread excitement, and certainly one is entitled to express the hope that Lipton's will not cause such wide- ; Bproad disappointment when the days of dividends come round. , One hears of dealings in the ordinary shares.at \&2 16/ apiece already, and people are prophesying that they will go to £5. This is quite possible whilst the excitement lasts,,but one would.be.sorry to buy at such a figure for investment purposes. n ■ . . = 'Among the million or so application s there • were* naturally a few cur, ir b'sitjes. One old lady ventured to _clai:x, .precedence J.n.aliptmen^^^th'e: g-roiind thai she had patronised Lip-" ton^g' markets ■'jH -her life apd foi* ,4Q year?, had partaken of no tea other than Lipton's. Sir Thomas, however, only opened his first shop in Glasgow eighteen or nineteen years ago. Several people, of course, applied to the vendor personally, claiming his good offices for 'auld acquaintance' sake. One gentleman reminded •Sir. : Thomas of a certain occasion when he j.assed the mustard to him on board a P. and 0. liner nine years ago. Another man ■wrote from Scotland explaining who he was and enclosing ■ his photograph to assist Sir Thomas' memory. He applied for ;4,000 ordinary shares and affixed his 1.0. U. for the application deposit. Another trustful being sent a signed cheque and-a .blank application form ana asked Lipton to fill, both up as he liked. Many people sent ; in cheques signed Lipton and many ladies have sentconfidential notes to Sir Thomas requesting him to rectify little errors in'their applications. One condescending individual wrote ta Ml* Caricichael, the secretary, thus: ■-'As. you are .offering them I will take five Preference Shares'; and another said: ':;;; 'I want five -ordinary shares, but if you are sold out of them I will take Preferences even or Debentures.* One gentleman aiiplied for 1,000 ordinary shares and enclosed a cheque for £125; bat forgot to give his address, an, omission which is scarcely so surprising as the ingenuity of the man who seat half of a £50 note to cover £2^ deposit on application, or the absentmiiidedness of a Scot who sent nearly i£ 300 in bank notes without giving an indication.of. his identity or explaining what he wanted. Oiie curious ; application for. five shares was that of a prov.d parent who wanted theni for 'my ".ittle girl,' who 'always'eats Lip.toii's chocolate.' ... Perhaps the greatest curiosity ofj the whole conversion was a telegram <je&pn.tched late on Thursday nig^ ,4'rum a small village; in the West" of / Ireland:,' Please keep list open till tomorrow. Posted^letter for five shares to-night.' Unfortunately it was impo&stble to comply with this modest requtst as it was to reply to the other Irishman who telegraphed yesterday f-oni Ballinasloe, 'Wire this evening how many scares you have allotted ■ -lQf.' I- : ■ ;-'.. '-■'!■{:■- -- :■.•• ;."■'■■ -■'.■. ••': . .': ■:: ■■■■

Of course the swindler has tried to ■take; advantage of the scramble. The Diodus:operandi favoured most was to send in an-application for a large num"ber of shares accompanied by a duffer cheque and then in the course of a couple of posts to AvithdraAV- the application. Of course these cute gentry vwe in hopes' that their cheques would be exchanged for Lipton's, xvhich they .could cash before the worthlessness of their OAvn paver Avas discovered. But the trick Avas tried an vain, for repenting applicants ,in tine, course received their own cheques back again.