JABEZ BALFOUR.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 124, 22 November 1895, Page 2

JABEZ BALFOUR.

At last Jabez talfour and some at least of his confederates havo obtained something of their doaerts, and tho most successful plunderers of tho widows and orphans of tho Old Country knowj to even this age of financial corruption will in duo course be sent to gaol, where it is to be hoped that they will bo treated aecorJing to their deserving. What has long come to bo known as the Liberator frauds was one of the most calamitous events in the financial history of 1893, when the Liberator Permanent Building Society and \U allied companies oamo down with a mighty crash, that involved tho investing public in a loss of no less a sum than about seven millions sterling. Of this gigantic fraud Jahez Spenoor Bilfour, M P. for Burnley, was the head and front The t'tle b- Liborator" was said to havo Leon cliosen with tuo view of ingratiating the Society with tuo JDissentim; bodies, many of whose minicters not only invested l lieniuplvcb but ndvi<-od their uongrogationsto do likewise. Regular dividends woro paid out of capital, and tbo balauco-shcols uookiid accordingly — a form of financial industry that has not been unknown in ivo>v Zealand, and, if our politicians u.vo to !>■■ bolievod, in connection with some very important financial institutions. When tho crash came, Balfour escaped to tho Atgoutiuo Kopnblio, whence tho young oilioials of tho Foreign Offioo, who wero very ambitions to catch tho rascal, successfully routed him, and finally procuicl his extradition. Meanwhilo, in 1893, two of his confederates, Henry Wright, a holioi I or, and James Hobbs, formorly Mayor of Croyden, wore brought to trial, convioted, and sentenced ca«h to 12 yearn' penal scrvitmto Tho pious Balfour, and tlioso now nrraigncd witli him, will hxrdly escape uitli \cm Large sums ot money wore :nihed in Knglaml for tho relief of tho most helpless of the suftorers through theao cruel frauds, bur, measured by the stupendous character of tho plunder, thoy were qnitn inadequatn to the needs ot thono unhappy poop'e. Applications for relief wero made byno fewer than 2012 persons, including MM women, (>52 of whom were single, and COl widows, while thoir aggregate lossos totalled £598,345. Thero can hi few mon above ground who have cansed more bitter snlToring and wrong than Jabez. Ballonr.