THE PEPPER-CORNERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1936, Page 4

THE PEPPER-CORNERS

THREE SHATTERED LIVES.. Three dazed men, once dealers in millions, once honoured in name and reputation, are in the cells of Wormwood Scrubs. Garabed Bishirgian, “Potentate of Pepper,” now, according to his counsel, •u.ierly and completely ruined,” and John Henry Charles Howeson, known in London as the “Tin King,” are, if their appeals fail, to serve sentences of twelve months in the second division. Louis Hardy, director of many companies, who rose to financial eminence, will likewise serve nine months in the second division. It was the end at the Old Bailey of the great pepper trial. It was the end. too. of the group known for a long time in London as the “Commodity Crusaders.” The drama of these shattered careers went a stage further, when, as the three men sat in the loneliness of their prison cells, counsel appeared before Mr. Justice du Parcq, sitting in chambers, pleading for bail for them in preparation for the appeal against sentence. After eight days of dramatic evidence the jury of ten men and two women were absent only 50 minutes in deciding the guilt of the three men. And when they came back into a court crowded with famous figures in the realm of finance and fashionablydressed women and announced the verdict, there came the concluding phase of the attempt of Bishirgian, Howeson and Hardy to corner the world’s pepper supplies. They had issued a prospectus for their company, James and Shakespeare, in which no mention of heavy pepper commitments was made. The jury had said that this was fraud — “omission of a material fact.”

Brasted Lodge, stately and beautiful Kentish home of John Henry Howeson, the fallen “Tin King,” was blazing' with lights in readiness for the master’s return. Dinner was laid, wines prepared. But he did not go back.

Nine words telephoned from London to a lovely old country house at Ockley, Surrey, simply stated “Mr. Bishirgian will not be home for dinner tonight.” Mrs. Hardy was in Court to hear her husband sentenced. She went, with permission, down the cold steps behind the dock to the cell to which her man had-been taken. For fifteen minutes she,, convinced of his innocence, stayed with him. offering words of cheer and consolation. Then, tor weary minutes, she -waited outside the Court until the taxi containing her husband came past. She waved good-bye—then turned away. And so the curtain came down on the drama of three broken careers. It will rise again when, in the Appeal Court, desperate efforts will be made to get reversed the decision which means so much to them.

Ockley is stunned. Half of that oldworld sporting and hunting village depends on the wages Bishirgian pays. He was a generous spender. His gay, lavish week-end parties came frequently. Champagne arrived by the crate. In his cellars are wines worth hundreds of pounds. His farm, on which it is said he spent £140,000, was the most up-to-date in the country. He kept there 600 pigs. Indeed, he brought the efficiency of the city to the sleepy countryside. Hundreds of poor agricultural workers were helped by him. Bishirgian was once a. humble city workers to suffer. He has left instructions that his farm and estate are to be carried on. And Garabed Bisbirigian was once a humble city clerk earning a few-shillings a week. Armenian born and a bachelor, he is now fifty-one. His parents were driven from their estates and vineyards when he was a small boy and the family came to England. He is one of the self-made men of his generation.

Educated at London, he started his career as a clerk in Credit Lyonnais, the famous French bank. It was as a bank clerk that he gained his first knowledge of foreign exchanges, in which he became expert. When the war broke out be enlisted as a gunner in the Royal Artilierv. He returned to the city after the war and advanced rapidly into eminence. Many of his earlier operations were carried on as a member of the Metal Exchange, and it was through this connection that he became associated first with James and Shakespeare, of which firm he became a member.

As his affairs prospered Bishirgian was able to develop his native propensity for things artistic. He acquired a great many works of art, and in Park Lane his town house was that of a cultured gentleman.

A KIND MASTER

Even more spectacular has been the career of John Howeson. His kindness to his staff is reflected in the tribute of his housekeeper: “We are an determined to be loyal. We will stand by our master. He has been good to us.” In a little cottage on the edge of the mansion which Howeson bought for. £20,000 18 months ago, the old nurse of the family was in tears when she heard the verdict. Howeson had installed her there and looked after her. She has been with the family for years. In the mansion Howeson had installed a magnificent cocktail bar, new tennis courts and a big pavilion on Continental lines. Brasted Lodge was built by Christopher Wren for the physician io King George 1. Some years ago Clarence

Hatry was considering buyin- the Lodge. Howeson began his business career as clerk to a. firm of discount brokers in Calcutta, and while still in his twenties be joined his brother in founding the firm of Howeson Brothers, jute merchants. The demand for jute during the war substantially increased the .ortunes of his firm, and many subsidiary interests were acquired. According to reports, ‘“Uncle John,” as the city called him, has forced Governments into agreement, as well as induced bankers to lend him large sums of money. He is a commanding personality with a very quiet voice who reminds one more of a doctor than a big business man. At his company meetings he emphasised the great importance of the tin industry to the Briitsh Empire, and he carried his shareholders with him. The capital of the companies in which he was interested totalled at one time nearly £35,000,000. At the Colonial Office he had a great deal of influence. It was believed that at one time it was so great that he virments to the international tin com- ; mil tee. I

lie conducted big pool operations in 'the metal.. At one time he lost very heavily, but after restriction became operative, he made it up again. Remarkable even in this remarkable case was the association of Howeson and Hardy. Almost exactly the same age, they were boyhood friends before Howeson began his ventures in India—and Hardy went to work as a clerk in Howeson’s father’s office. Louis Hardy, too, soon rose to take

on work of greater scope. When Howeson returned from India he found the friend of his youtn a man with a considerable reputation in the city and a company director of valuable experience. And their association, broken for half a lifetime, was immediately renewed —they even lived in the same town. A director of some or the companies in the Anglo-Oriental group, Hardy largely acted on behalf of his friend and associate.

Hr startled the Court during tne I trial, when, after admitting to me At-j terney-General that Howeson made ai large profit in achieving a command-I. ing position in tin, he added oui-dly. “He saved the tin industry of the Em-1 pire £40,000.000.” The costs of the trial are bor.cvcd I t 6 be about £30,000. It is understood I that counsel’s fees and refreshers ’ were in the neighbourhood of £7OOO

for Howeson, £5OOO for Bishirgian and £2OOO for Hardy. .In addition, there were the fees of the Attorney-General and the two Treasury counsel and witnesses for the prosecution. The shorthand notes also ran into a considerable sum. Iti is estimated that they amounted to 350,000 words. Numerous copies were delivered daily both to the prosecution and the defence.