SKETCHES OF SIR THOMAS LIPTON.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10501, 23 November 1901, Page 3

SKETCHES OF SIR THOMAS LIPTON.

In Outing for September, among many articles -of exceptional interest to lovers of sport and outdoor life, appears a sketch by Dugald -Stewart of Sir Thomas Lipton* Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipfon i 3 46 year old^ Ho was horn in Grlas-fov, !>ut he is of North of Ireland parentage. He is a self-made man in the best sense. „ He has steadily climbed the ladder o£ fortune from its lowest rung, and by hia own exertions, integrity, and business capacity has, at" a comparatively early age, attain the position of one of the richest men in Great Britaia> A true Clyde-side man, he had, even front earliest boyhood, a great leaning towards yachts ond yachtingi He is a practical yachtsman, having served a long apprenticeship in, all sorts of craft, beginning with a lugsail boat which he managed for h?"m'--self. With such up-bringing, it is a small wonder that; he is in his mature age A devoted lover of yacht-sailiasj. In his younger days Sir Thomas saw 'a good deal o f the States, and in Si'Ulii Carolina, New York, and eke.vhore toiled hard for but scant remunarjiion. > He first visited America as a lad at 15, " in or about the year 1871. He c norgi d successfully- from the roughs and tumbles of tho3e youthful days, and wanaged to return to Great Britain fioin New York with the" modest savings of 500 dollars. "My experience in America sharpened me, "he says, "and I nlways -feel that I got a good commercial training there." It was after his return that he started his real business operations, five-and-twenty years ago, with a single' provision shop in jrlas^uvr. Since -that' day he has never lnol.cd back. "Lipton'a Limited" now poss^^-s^ some 450 stores in the United Kingdom, besides tea, coffee," cocoa, iv.ci other estates in Ceylon, India, arid elsewhere, as well as fruit farms, mring factories, huge bakeries, and ether establishments, and has developed rV.io a gigantic business, which gro.vs and thrives' with the passage of each yi^vr. On the plantations in India and Ceylon alone there are more than 10,000 employees on the pay-rolls.- In. addition to controlling those vast ind:i ? tries Sir Thomas Lipton Has in his' ov.n hands a great packing busings in Chicago, where in a single day rxore than 3000 hogs are killed. To de'iver his fresh meat in good condition not less than 600 of his own refrigerator cars are employed. Sir Thomas Lilian's recipe for success seems simple enough. "Work hard," he says, "deal honestly, use careful judgment, Jo imto others as you would be done by, wivertise freely and judiciously, and is bound to follow." It is 'worthy df remark that although an enormous employer of labour he has never had a strike, nor, in his own opinion, is he ever likely to have one. "I make it my business, he says, "to look after the interests of ' my mon, and we live in peace and harmony." He was knighted in 1898. He is a great traveller, having business houses and stores in New York, Chicago, Berlin, and Hasnkurg, and in Ceylon and India. Twice he has made the circuit of the world- Iv Ms fine steam yacht Erin he. often visits the Mediterranean. As a consequence of his long familiarity with the United States, Sir Thomas Lipton is much interested in American horses. He has some iainous Kentucky trotters, and, shunning railways, drives a pair of these animals "daily to his offices in City Road, London*, some eight miles distant, tie is fond of riding, takes an interest in dogs, -plays golf occasionally, -rad enjoys a game of billiards. And* he is an .admirer of pictures, gardens, and country life. Sir Thomas has no groat time for reading, and newspapers and periodicals form his chief literary pabuJum. Sir Thomas Lipton has been interviewed by Mr Francis Phillimore, who works up the material thus obtained into an interesting paper in the September Windsor. He calls it "the evolu-tion-of a great business." Perhaps the passage which will be most noted is what this prince of organisers has to say on recreation: — "It is hardly necessary to ask we if I am a believer in Saturday's half-uoliday and Saturday's rest. It is a -aistake, mentally and physiciflljr, for any nian to work seven days 'without however young and strong he may be, v however ardent to make strides in business. Off hours from my businoss I spend, as far as possible, in the open air; I leave behind me the city at night. Even now, when of necessity I dine frequently in London, I «lrive ten miles into the country to sleep; the extra trouble and the loss of lime is well repaid by the' pure air. That is my opinion, and I leave others to untile _at the suburbs. Gardening I agree with Lord Tennyson in thinking the moat perfpet of recreations; it gives you just enough to think about to be a complete distraction, yet not enough to worry you; and it is work-play done under delightful conditions. The hour in the garden at the beginning of the day or at its close is worth many snerificcs in the winning. Though I have never been able to get to bed before midnight I am always up at seven— an allowance of sleep that is less by an hour than Lord Palmerston gave cut as indispensable — at any rate, for a i tutcsman. Other spare half-hours at home go to outdoor games— cricket, golf, tennis, and howls. If one must he indoors a game of billiards I find to be a grand exercise. You walk miles, to begin with, and a. private table is a great attraction to keep together tho young members of a household, in the evenings. From ail this it follows I am not a great theatregoer. I do not think I sat out a play more than 12 times in my life, mid never did I do so till the last very f t:w years. My parents, being old-fashioned and church-going, had never seen the flare of the footlights, and I felt tl.at could not properly allow the lime to give myself up to being amused. for so long by other people — in "a vitiated utmosphererl felt I could do better for myself Half an hour in a music-hall seemed 'to be a different matter — you could hear the eong you wished to hear and then come away. All the name, some of the nicest people I have ever known belonged to the 'stage. Sport aud gambling are often supposed to be inseparable. Many thousands of pounds are put upon yacht-racing, but Jisver a pound by me. I have yet to make my first bet. I race purely for the -,-leaaure of the sport; and I would not btt on my boat or any other." Referring to the cheque for £100,000 which ' Sir Thomas Lipton hauled to the lady who is now Queen of Euglind, for the Alexandra Trust, Mr Philhuiore says: — ■ According to common gossip, the Princess, to whom the magic flip of pink paper was handed by Sir Ihomas at.Marlboiough House, danced round the room with pleasure, saying the had never before held in her. hands so large a sum. .