the hope that some fatuous speculator may be
tempted to buy. It is delightful when two of
these gentry fall out and expose each other's
knavery. The reader is assured that "Codlin's
his friend, not Short"; the latter is denounced
as a fraud and retaliates, but no action for libel
is brought, because both know that on either
side the imputation is justifiable.

It may excite surprise in some who are
favoured with circulars and prospectuses which
are, through the Post Office, sown broadcast
over the whole country, how the name and
address of a comparatively obscure individual
should be known. Prospectus and circular
distributing is a business conducted on a regular
system. When it is desired to invite subscrip-
tions to float some new company or to bolster
up some concern, the share lists of the same
sort of companies already in existence are
drawn upon for names and addresses; and
court directories also furnish a wide field for
operations.

At the present time the rage appears to have
set in for forming limited liability companies out
of private industrial concerns or trading firms.
Most of these companies, we are told by an
authority, "are brought out under the same
auspices" -- that is they are started and floated