A DOCTOR'S RUBBER SHARES

Evening Star, Issue 15513, 8 June 1914, Page 5

A DOCTOR'S RUBBER SHARES

AND WHAT BECAME OF HIS MONEY. A West End of London doctor's speculations in rubber were the subject of an action that was begun recently in the King's Bench Division before Mr Justice Bailhache and a special jury. ■ The plaintiff was I>r Conrad M. Hinde Howell, of Harley street, and the .lel'endants included : Sir Henry- Edward Dering, a baronet, member of an ancient family, a justice of the peace, a deputy lieutenant, and formerlv a major in the Soots Guards; Sir H. Seton-Karr, C.M.G., formerly Conservative member for St. Helens ; Captain W. M. Hill, also an ollicer in the Guards, who married the widow of Mr P-'am Lewis, a well-known lender; Mr W. Q'Malley, a Nationalist >J.P. ; Mr Joseph Clancy, and Mr ,F. W. T. Thorp. The action was brought against the defendants as directors, promoters, or otherwise being connected with the Essequibo Rubber and Tobacco Estates,, Ltd., for damages for alleged fraudulent statements in *h« piospectus of the company by which the plaintiff was induced to take fhares that he alleged were worthless. The defendants denied misrepresentation, and denied that the statements were untrue. They also said that they reasonably believed that the statements made were true. Sir Frederick Low, for the plaintiff, said he subscribed fox shares in the Essequibo Rubber Company on the faith of the statements in their prospectus, and he charged the defendants with issuing untrue and fraudulent statements with recklessness and carelessness as to the consequences. He said the shares were worthless. Mcst of the money subscribed to the company was up among a. rramber o£ people—some oi them doing' nothing ior their money—in much the same way as was adopted by fcho highwaymen' who met on 3lounslow Heath to divide the epoil they had taken from wayfarers. The company was floated in 1910 with a capital of £IOO,OOO in 400,000 shares of 5s each, and was fully subscribed for by the public. The money | was now all gone.