LONDON GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4576, 22 February 1893, Page 2

LONDON GOSSIP.

♦ Horatio Bottomley. [FROM OUR LONDON CORBESPONDENT.j London, Jan. 6. Most of your readers will have heard, or at leaßt read, Bomething of Horatio Bottomley, the promoter of thathuge — shall we cay mißtake? — the Hansard Union. Mr Bottomley is:varioußlyljudged in the city. A great many do not) hesitate to call him a roguish company-promoter of the most dangerous type, and. to accuse him of gross commercial immorality. On the other hand, the man's defenders, including financiers of undoubted influence and strictest probity, point out that, whereas endless charges have been brought against Bottomley, none have been proved. In some cases, indeed, the accusers have had to ,eat their words, and apologise, whilst in others the^ I worst that could be said was that the man i had shown himself absurdly over-can- : guine. If the Hansard Union came, as I popularly supposed, to " almighty smash" ; through Bottomley he himself lost everything therein. In the preface of an amusing brochure " Horatio Bottomley: I Hys Book/ which the ex-premoter has just produced he summaries his position thuß : — " In the year 1890 I occupied a -fairly respectable position in society. I had a West-end residence and a little country retreat, and enjoyed all the surroundings of unobtrusive prosperity. True, I did not . keep racehorses or coursing doga, and was not a personal friend of the Prince; but I endeavoured to give good dinners, and to tell good' stories, and' was therefore looked upon as one of the comingmen. I seldom, however, got intoxicated when entertaining my guests, and consequently little was known concerning my early career or exact position. In my presence I was spoken of aa a great financier — in my absence, as a successful Com-pany-promoter. At any rate, I was known to be connected with certain large financial undertakings, and also to be a candidate for parliamentary life— »co my social credentials were complete; and I was quietly settling down to an admitted place amongst ti& Upper Nine. In 1891 my. Companies had come to grief, my affairs were in the Bankruptcy Court, I had ceased to be a candidate for Parliament ; all waa ruin and desolation around me."' The greater part of the little book is taken up with an involved history of the inception of the Hansard Union, of its successful promotion and period of brief prosperity, and of ite ruin, or (aa Bottomley stoutly maintains) its wreckage. According to the ex-promoter, there was gross treachery in certain quarters, and this, and this alone, brought about the crash. ' Mr Bottomley mentions no names, but points to the significant faot that many of the gentlemen who sold their businesses for large sums to the Hansard^ Union are now again in possession of them having repurchased them from the liquidators for trifling sums. Bat the Hansard Union has no interest for Australasians. Let us sample some of the good stories of the versatile Bottomley, who, before he came to grief, was renowned in city circles as & raconteur. One of his best yarns narrates the audacious coup of the managing clerk of the drunken attorney he in early youth served as office boy. This individual lived, to the youthful Bottomless perplexity, in great lower middle class splendour. Horatio could only suppose the tippling attorney paid him a sumptuous salary, though why he should do so the boy. couldn't imagine. One fine morning, however, two stalwart constables entered the office and conveyed the luxurious liver to Millbank prison. It then transpired this finanoial genius had for years levied and collected a bogus " County rate " upon the guileless md unsuspecting citizens of: London 'It appears," says Bottomley, ** that once upon a time the city had to pay a County rate, but that it was long ago abolished. My legal colleague, however, came to the conclusion that city people were not quite so particular as suburban householders about their rates and taxes; and, upon the principle of doing the least harm to the greatest possible number, it occurred to him that he might secure in one fell swoop a princely fortune by re-levying the rate upon his own responsibility, and quietly decamping with whatever he might succeed. in collecting before the imposition wbb discovered. It is-a strange eatire upon the astuteness of thecity that the experiment proved so successful that, instead of making off with the first spoil, this daring individual actually took offices, for the purposes of his scheme, where the collector attended daily at certain ' stated hours, and from which address the usual demand notes, and first and second notices, and all the other documents familiar to the ratepayer, were regularly issued. Of course, there never was Buoh a lenient collector Bince rates and taxes were invented.. Nobody was ever summoned, and needy citizens never applied in vain for an extension of time fort payment And so the game went merrily on from year to year, until at length some accident occurred, and the city learned how hugely it had. been hoaxed. And during the whole period this financial genius was playing the rile: of a simple lawyer's clerk. The* last I heard of him. was that, shortly after hia release, he had succumbed to prison treatment, having accelerated his en* by thesame means as those which took off the attorney." Some of Horatio's electioneering, experiences are extremely entertaining. He says, and very truly, that the amount of private heckling and patronage a- Badical candidate for a borough constituency has to undergo during his canvass ie-exasperat-ing to the lasb degree. :Butcher>. baker and : i candlestiok-maker lecture the unfortunate man, and tell him what he may and what he may not do till he cries," Democracy be — — ." One must draw the line somewhere. I draw it at being bullied by the greengrocer because my wife deals at the Btores. "As a matter of fact," 7 Bofcfcomley j remarks, "I have often observed that the most popular form of Democracy is that which gives us the right): to fraternise upon terms of equality with our social superiors, " I have had some eevere tests myself. I rememb&r that one of my staunchent political supporters and- principal lieu- . tenants waß a weird little man, whose goodwill I was warned it was most essential I should retain, for it was represented tame that he had veny special advantages for furthering my interests. He was moßt assiduous in his attentions, and waa invariably at my side- at all important functions; and. being a profound and : enthusiastic politician,, would seize ©very/ opportunity for a quiet chat over 1 th®general European situation. Foreign, affairs were his pet theme, and there was not a telegram or a leading article off. the day that he had not read. But j although most loquacious upon aM I these matters he was always refeacent i upon personal affairs. In my own mitad, • I put him dow» as one of the slaves of tta Press, for his acquaintance with, news* ! paper'literature was so extensive. &)d so ; whenever any difference arose between us j upon any queatioa of names ov dates, or i other historical detail, I immediately j deferred * and in time I came- to regard him as an infallible political encjdopcedia. But wbo and what he was I sever knew until one day I casually discovered that he was a gentleman who, ior the convenience and comfort of passengers, hadt been placed in a position of trust at ono of the large London railway stations, and was authorised to levy a toll of Id perhead for his services. Of course he was none the less worthy for that — and may the day never come when there Bhall be any dearth of successors in hia office. But some of our meetings were a little awkward, all the same—especially when they occurred at the railway station — for there are occasions upon whioh even an Englishman has no inclination for politics." if'or the Women's. Eights movement Mr Bottomley espreßses but Blight sympathy. He recalls attending a meeting at the house o£ %£.ej&ata Federated ojc bourn such

curio. The hostess, from an untidy armchair, implored the young girls present not to believe the cant talked about women who take an ardent interest in public affairs, not making good wives and mothers. and housekeepers. "On the contrary," she averred stoutly, " they make the best wives, the best mothers, and the best housekeepere." "Hear, hear," cried the lady listeners. Mr Bottomley smiled, for theroom they occupied .was flagrantly dirty, a< huge cobweb hanging tremulously above the chair, and threatening every moment to fall and envelop the eloquent lady.