TOPIC OF THE DAY

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 172, 23 July 1898, Page 4 (Supplement)

TOPIC OF THE DAY

-{3j'rom-our_ London v Co-respondent.) LONDON, June 10. DOWNFALL dF A MILLIONAIRE. The paramount topic of the week — ithe Hispano-Anierican war has nearlyceased to be the medium gossip—has foeen the utterly unexpected failure of :Mr Ernest Terah Hooley, of the Dunlop Tyre and Bovril promotions fame, ■who presented his petition on Wednesday and was adjudicated bankrupt. Wow, of course, every other man you meet 'smelt a rat' long ago* but you may accept my word for it that Mr Hooley's action came as a bolt from ■the blue to all save those who had intimate financial relations with him. And these you may be sure did not parade the streets singing- 'It's all over now with the Hoolej'.' They kept their suspicions.to themselves and endeavoured to make themselves safe against the time Avhen the wind began to blow. Before I go any further let me state at once that Mr Hooley's misfortunes will in no way affect the colonies. He has never concerned himself with any mining- ventures and those big industrial schemes with which his name has been identified have not touched the colonies.

The immediate cause of Mr Hooley's failure was that a creditor for a considerable amount obtained an attachment order against his banking account; but that action only hastened the end, for the .bankrupt himself states that he had contemplated seeking the protection of the Court for many days, owing to the pressure of litigation and the demands of creditors. Mr Hooley tells us that 'blackmail' has done for him and promises on his piiblic examination to make some startling revelations as to the extent blackmailing is carried on in the city. In an interview he said:—

It's not gambling nor drinking that has brought me where I am now. It is the attacks made on me without rhyme or reason by some of the financial papers that have brought all my creditors down upon me at once. They ridiculed my companies and discredited everything' I was concerned in. and yet I have promoted companies that I have not made a single penny out of because the newspapers took all the profit. I have paid one paper alone £40,000 and a single article in another paper cost me £ 10,000. . . . As soon as it is known that a company is -coming out I am besieged by them and their representatives. They come quite openly, and say, 'Well, what are we going to get out of this?' I have seen a file of twenty of them waiting together in the corridor at the Midland Hotel. 'So and So's coming out?' they say; 'Yes,' you answer, 'but there isn't much in it, it cost me so much and it's coming- out at so much. You shall have £1,000.' That, perhaps, is hot enough, and you keep on bargaining1 in the ordinary way until a price is fixed. But I'm going to clear myself with the public and some people will find they have made a mistake in. persecuting me. They thoug-ht I had a million or two put by and that I was fair game for them. There seems to be quite a g-eneral idea that if a man makes \£ 100,000 profit on a company —though it's often .nearer £ 20,000 by the time everything- is settled — he may be ■blackguarded and blackmailed with impunity. If a man puts his money in a gold mine, and the go down to fourpence halfpenny, he doesn't squeak, but if he goes into an industrial company and the directors play the fool, nothing satisfies ihim but litigation. Hooley, of course, has always steered clear of directorates contenting himself with promotion profits which, though not perhaps so big as csome people imag-ined, were in the case of his earlier ventures very considerable.

The career of the bankrupt makes interesting reading: 'For rather more than, two years past Mr Hooley has been the most prominent financier and company promoter in this country. Previous to the spring of '96 he was practically unknown, at all events in London, but the great Dunlop Tyre 'deal' of five millions brought him at once into prominence. The j>romotion of the Dunlop Tyre Company was indeed a "record." But it was by no means Ms first essay in finance. 'Mr Hooley is in his thirty-ninth year, having- been born at Long Eaton, Derbyshire, in '59. He is the only son of Mr Terah Hooley and was married in 1883. Mr Hooley's education was private and he started life as a stockbroker in Nottingham. In that capacity he speedily purchased Risley Hall, near Derby, the beautiful old seat of the Wilioughbys. It is understood that Mr Hooley's first large _ profits were made in connection with the Humber Cycle Company. 'Encouraged by the success of that enterprise Mr Hooley in the early part of '96 conceived the idea of buying- up and re-floating the Pneumatic Tyre Company. It was known that several fortunes had been realised by those who were fortunate enough to have ■been connected with the compaivy from the beginning, and Mr Hooley foresaw the "Cycle Boom" that was .coming. He and the group who acted with him bought the old Pneumatic Tyre Company for three millions in cash and re-floated it atfive millions. The concern had splendid assets and was making great profits, but the very audacity of the scheme was dazzling. The public were impressed by the candour of a promoter who did not hesitate to say "I have given three millions for this business; my price for it to you is five millions." There never Avas any doubt that the notation would be a success. The thing was obviously very much over - capitalised but the speculating fever in regard to cycle companies was at fever-heat. The money was subscribed twice over, and 6O numerous were the disappointed applicants that the shares ran up to figures which largely increased the capitalisation of the company. Indeed, a very few weeks after allotment the i£l deferred shares stood at 35/. Today they are quoted at 10/.

It would require a g"ood deal of epace to enumerate the whole of the companies which, directly or indirectly, Mr Hooley promoted. Perhaps Mr Hooley's greatest undertaking, > after ,the Dunlop Company, was the 'conversion of Bovril into a great public company. That, too, was a great success, and has remained so. Another ■notable industrial promotion was Schweppe (Limited), and he also ibrought out the French Dunlop Company, the Singer Cycle Company .and various concerns belonging the same group. These were all successful promotions from the Hooley point of view, but the tide turned soon afterwards and the millionaire who teouldn'.t make a misted ijx the au-

I tumn of '96 could do nothing right in the spring of '98. Company after company made its appeal to the public and fell flat. Ventures great and ventures small shared the same fate. Blaisdell Pencils and Erith Ordnance Works proved no more palatable to a fastidious. public than did the LeeMetford rifle. The last straw came with the flotation of the Hydraulic Him Company about a fortnight ago. The directors went to,allotment on what was known to be an inadequate subscription and a committee was promptly formed to secure the return of the capital subscribed. One cannot wonder that the g*reat B.P. began to look askance at Hooley ventures when one scans the following list of his promotions which have achieved Stock Exchange quotation:— Company Capital. Present DcpreValue. ciation. Dunlop Debs. .., £550,000 £363,000 £187.000 Do. Prcf. .. 1,01)0,000 625,000 375,000 Do. Ord. .. 1,000,000 600,000 400,000 Do. Def. .. 2,000,080 700,000 1,300,000 BovrilOrd 750,000 721,875 25.125 Do. Def... .. 750,000 i 50,000 300,000 Cement Gladiateur Ord 70(1,000 140.000 560,000 Singer Ord 100,000 180.000 220,000 Do. Pref 200,000 135,000 65,000 Swift Ord. .... 200,000 95,000 105,000 Do. Pref 100,000 7.9,000 21,000 Components Tube 150,000 30,000 120,000 Cycle Manufacturers Tube .. 250,000 25,000 225,000 Humber, America .. .. .. 75,000 30,000 45.000 Do. Portugal 100,000 20,000 80,000 Do. Prussia .. 75,000 15,000 50,000 Soheppe Def. .. 350,000 110,000 210,000 It is impossible at present to even guess at the total of Mr Hooley's liabilities. They probably exceed a million, but with careful nursing tho assets should yield something more than 20/ in the £. His landed- estates alpne must be worth £750,000.