WRITING HIS OWN "TUFF."

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 44

WRITING HIS OWN "TUFF."

A Mr J. Kirby and Mr Sheridan, of the Financial Post, called on bankrupt several times. At first he refused to give them any money, and there then appeared m one paper a paragraph saying: "Before investing in Dunlop tyres see the Financial Post of such a date." The men then called on bankrupt again, and said that if he would give them £1000 he could write the article himself for that date, and he did so. He could not tell the court what the second payment of £1000 to these men was for ; he had many transactions with them. Bankrupt paid £10,000 to Mr A. J. Benjamin on account of Harry Marks, of the* Financial News, and there was a second payment of £10,000 to Harry Marks ; bufc bankrupt averred that these payments to Maries were not intended to influence that person's newspaper. Marks applied for shares, and bankrupt had a firm contract with him at 10s a share. Again, when bankrupt made large profits on some transactions in JBeeston shares Marks was in with him, and he paid Marks £2000 as his proportion of profit. But Marks's paper published some excellent articles on the Dunlop Company, and when bankrupt discovered that these were written by Mr Jennings, one of the staff of the Financial News, he made that gentleman a present of £500. The gross profits of £1,700,000 on tho Dunlop Company were reduced by promotion payments to a net profit to himself of between £100,000 and £200,000, after paying Rucker his half share.