A BIG BUSINESS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7626, 25 December 1886, Page 3

A BIG BUSINESS.

The Stock Exchange sensation of die mniucnf is the conversion of the private Jinn known lo all the world as (iuiiMiess' Jirewery, Dublin, mo a limited liability, under the title of Arthur Guinness, Son, and Co, (Limited), with a capital of .£0,000,000. The linn was established an long ago as 17i>0, and it is said that the average prolils of the last live years have been £'152,204 per annum. The average number of hogsheads sold amount to no less than 703,000 yearly. The rush of inventors has been tremendous, and for the six million!) required it is assorted that no less than 127 millions -were oJl'ered, Prospectuses, it is said, were even sold at J2s (id apiece for the .sake of the application forms'.' There are two things to he noted about this : first, that there is no lack of capital when the right thing turns up, and, secondly, that, despite the decline of excise ami the manifest growth of tern peianco principles, there is a strongly grounded belief in the oniriipotcncy of John JJarlcycorn, and that his life is, as tlic insurance oiliccs would .'-ay, a remarkably ;rood one. No doubt .stout, like a {,'ood many other tilings, is well in itsi way, if people would Only conline themselves to moderate libations, mid a £nod deal of the popularity which (jluiniicss enjoys arises from the fact that it is recommended by family doctors and medical books." Also, it may be observed, tho boyey of liome liulo has not ttrrilicd 'ihe invwlor, Ihoiifrh the mighty vats lie within easy reach of llw thii'sty legislators who limy one day

assemble with dry throats on St. Stephen's Green. Of course the extraordinary influx of capital is occasioned just now by the difficulty of meeting with a sound and paying investment. The good old times when a man might reasonably look for £'50 a year for his invested £1000 are more or less gone for ever, he thinks himself lucky if he makes cC4S, and is quite contented with £40, even if ho does not fall back on the sweet simplicity of the threo per cents. When tho Manchester Ship Canal Company asked for £5,000,000 they did not get it for (ho very simplo,reasou that few people expected to see their moneys worth returned, and so many millions of stock are lying idle in unremuncrativc enterprises that the operator of the present day needs to be an exceedingly astute aiid cunning person. But beer never changes, kingdoms wax and wane, and fashions of all kinds alter and are forgotten, but the New Zealnndcr that goes to sketch (ho ruins of St. Paul's, will, if he has not. become a teetotaller, still probably be able to find a glass of home-brewed in the neighborhood of the broken arch of London Bridge.