JONES LOYD AND COUTTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 666, 3 September 1864, Page 5

JONES LOYD AND COUTTS.

(From the Railway Neios )

There is much of the romance of history in the origin of some of the great private banking houses still existing in our days— though all more or less threatened with destruction by the giant of jointstock enterprise The origin, among others, of the house of Jones, Loyd and Co. was very curious. Mr Lewis Loyd, the founder of the house, father of the present Lord Oyerstone, began his career as a Welsh dissenting minister in a small chapel at Manchester, the congregation of which included a Mr Jones, a sort of half-banker half-manufacturer. In addition to Mr Jones, there was a young Miss Jones, who attended the sermon of the Rev. Mr Loyd, and, as often happens, the maiden found the orations so eloquent that she fell in love with the preacher. The affection was responded to by the minister, and the two, fearing the purse proud merchant would never consent to the mesalliance, were privately married. Of course when the affair became known to Mr Jones, sen., as it could not fail to, he was exceedingly angry ; but, seeing that things went on pretty comfortably with his daughter, he became reconciled in the end to his reverend son-in-law; but though fond of attending sermons, he did not thiuk preaching a good business, and after a while proposed that Mr Loyd should give up the Welsh dissenting chapel and enter his counting house as a partner, under the firm of Jones, Loyd and Co. Mr Loyd consented ; and, to extend the business, it was subsequently agreed that he should goto London, and establish a bank under the name of the Manchester firm ; so that Jones, Loyd and Co. of Manchester might draw bills upon Jones, Loyd and Co. of London, or as it was facetiously called at the time, " pig upon bacon." It soon turned out that Mr Lewis Loyd was eminently fitted to be a banker, for clearness of head, untiring industry, and perfect honesty proved the foundation of success for the new establishment. After a very long and honorable career, Mr Loyd retired from busiuess, being succeeded as head, of the London firm by his son, Mr Samuel Jones Loyd, who was subsequently created Lord Overstone. Thus the falling in love of a young Manchester girl with a Welsh Dissenting minister, was the cause of the establishment of an importaut bank, besides leading to the creation of a new peer of the realm. The great bankinghouse of Coutts and Co. arose under circumstances

not leis striking than those connected with the history of Jones, Loyd and Co. The father of Mr Coutts was a merchant at Edinburgh who had four sons, the two youngest of whom, James and Thomas, were brought up in the paternal count-ing-house James, at the a^e of 25, came toLondon, and fii-3t settled in St. Mary Axe as a Scotch merchant, from which business, however, he subsequently retired to become a banker. He took a house in the Strand, the same in which the firm still exists ; and he was joined here, some years after, by his brother Thomas as a partner — the business being carried on under the name of James and Thomas Coutts. James Coutts died early, and Thomas was then left sole proprietor of the bank. His high integrity, joined to a very enterprising spirit, soon gained him many friends, and made him remarkably successful in his business. A characteristic instance, both of his shrewdness and enterprise, is given by Mr Lawson. ,in his " History of Banking." In the early part ot his career, Mr Coutts, anxious to secure the cordial co-operation of the heads of the various banking houses iv London, was in the habit of frequently inviting them to dinner. On one or these occasions, the manager of a city bank, in retailing the news of the day, accidentally remarked that a certain nobleman had applied to his firm for the loan of L 30,000, and had been refused. Mr Coutts listened and said nothing ; but the moment his guest had retired, about ten o'clock in the evening, he started off to the house of the nobleman mentioned, and requested the honor of an interview with his lordship. " But what security am Ito give you ? " I shall be satisfied with your lordship's note of hand," was the reply. The I 0 U was instantly given, withthe' remark, " I find that I shall only require for the present L 10,00 0; I therefore return you L 20,600, with which you will be pleased to open an account iv my name." The generous — or as it may more truly be called, exceedingly well calculated— act of Mr Coutts was not lost upon the nobleman, who in addition to paying in within a few months L 200,000 to his account, the produce of the sale of an estate, recommendedseveral high personages to patronise the bank in the Strand. Among the new clients who did so was King George 111, Mr Coutts had not only many friends, but real admirers among the nobility, and was an object of attraction to not a few designing matrons, who would have been too happy to marry their noble but portionless daughter to the rich banker. These aristocratic matrimonial speculations were somewhat rudely dispelled by the choice which Mr Coutts made of a wife, in the person of Elizabeth Starkey, a domestic in hi 3 brother's service. Th& union was productive, it is said, of great happiness to the banker; and though children of a 'servant, his three daughters' married three noblemen— viz., the Marquis of Bute, the Earl of Guildford, and Sir Frances Burdett. After the death of his first wife, Mr Coutts gave his hand to Miss Mellon, an actress. On this second marriage, both Mr and Mrs Coutts were made theconstaut subjects of unworthy ridicule, which however, had no other effect than that of strengthening the confidence of the husband in his wife. This confidence was displayed in a remarkable manner in the last will and testament of Mr Coutts. By this he left the whole of Ids fortune, amounting to above £900,000 to his widow for her sole use and benefit, and at her absolute disposal, without the deduction of a single legacy to any other person. Mrs Coutts subsequently married the Duke of St. Albans ■ but under her marriage settlement wisely reserved" to herself the whole control of the immense fortune left to her by her first husband. On her death she bequeathed, the vast property to the favorite grand-daushter of Mr Coufts, Miss Angela Burdett— the estimable and beneficent lady, founder of so many churches and schools, who is now well known asMiss Angela Buvdett Coutts. Miss A. B. Couttscontinues to be the principal proprietor of the old bank in the Strand, the business being conducted for her by trustees, under the old style of Coutts and Co.

Wondkrs of the DEEP.—What a beautiful place would be the bed of the ocean if we could only have an opportunity to contemplate its vastness without fear, and with an opportunity to descend in safety to its profound depths, and investigate at ease all its mysteries ? What a delightful chance, provided the personal safety of the explorer were secured, to spy out the pearly secrets, to gaze on the so-long hidden gorgeousness of the silent caves and coral palaces, the forests and plains, the mountains and valleys of the submarine world! But the truth is, that even if the sea were temporarily exhausted of its billows to accommodate our curiosity, it would be too dangerous in its thick, unctuous bed for human foo 'steps, and would be too fatal to life in its rank exhalations to leave us a hope of adding much to our stock of knowledge as to its marvels. The curled, deep purple leaves of the sea-lettuce, cover, ro doubt, the bed of the ocean, and lie deeply intermixed with the large, porous lichens • the many- branched, hollow aigte, full of life and motion in their rosy little bladders, thickly set with ever moving arms. Seen from a height, the mass of luxurious vegetation would present the appearance of a gay carpet, brilliantly set off with shining ornaments, for among- the leaves we might just catch a glimpse of the showily painted moluses; the rainbow-tinted fish; the gigantic angong; the siren of the ancients; the shark, with his leaden eyes; the thick-haired sea-leopard ; and the lazy turtle. And what a picture it would be !

Planting Hedgbs.— All trees or plants should be regarded as living organisations, governed by natural laws, each Mnd having its own particular physiology. It is, therefore, iraportant that suitable preparations should be made to plant your hedging in soils and situations most congenial to fheir natures and habits, so that no blanks or gaps will disfigure, and rendcrthe whole concern comparatively useless. Often two small ditches are dug and a mound raised between, if the earth taken out is kindly. On the top of this mount, the plants are carefully placed. Some prudent persons, who anxiously desired that their hedge should grow equal and iast, have gone to the trouble of applying stable manure fermented and properly prepared, and the labor was amply repaid. Thorns and many other plants are tenacious of life. For a few years they will seem to thrive on any soil ; but if an impenetrable and noxious pan lies under, as soon as the roots descend to this substratum, a stunted growth and unsightly, unfenceable hedge will subsequently always require repairs, having constant additional cost and causing constantly annoying vexations to all concerned.

Naiads and Dryads.— A classic editor says that if the Nniads were constantly bathing, ne presumes from their name that the Dryads were the ones who brought them their towels.