CAREER OF A MILLIONAIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8989, 29 February 1888, Page 6

CAREER OF A MILLIONAIRE.

The Insurance and Banking Record has the following :—The death of Mr. Henry Miller, the great Victorian millionaire, at the age of 78, took place on 7th February, the date of the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of Victoria, of which he had been chairman for thirty-five years. Mr. Miller commenced life as a clerk, but by his skill in financing amassed an enormous fortune. In most of the local banks and insurance companies in the early days of the colony he held a large interest. He was among the promoters of the Bank of Victoria, which was incorporated in October, 1852, and was elected as the first chairman of directors, a post which he continued to occupy up till the day of his death. In 1849 he originated the Victoria Fire and Marine Insurance Company. In 1859 the Victoria Life and General Assurance Company was established, with Mr. _ Miller as one of the promoters, and it also has had a very successful career. A few years ago he was instrumental in reconstructing the Victoria Fire and Marine Company, which had got into low , water, and it became the present Victoria Insurance Company. The result of the operation was that the shares leaped up from 10s to £6, and Mr. Miller himself netted about £100,000 by the change. The first of the "Union Terminating" series of building societies in Melbourne was founded under Mr. Miller's auspices Sn 1850, with such success that seven sther societies on the same lines have tbeen carried through. In seven of these societies Mr. Miller was president, bub when the eighth was established,, failing health obliged him to decline the office. Mr. Miller's death will probably lead to some radical changes in several of the institutions with which he was associated. These institutions have been prosperous, but) have scarcely moved with the times. ■