Various

“ The shareholders of a Company can limit their liability either to the amount not paid up on their shares—if there be any so unpaid—or to such sum as each may agree to contribute to the assets of the Company, if it should require to be wound up. In other words, the liability may be limited by shares or limited by guarantee. Most Companies are limited by shares. ”

“ He could walk along the verge of a rocky precipice with a sheer descent of hundreds of feet as unconcernedly as many a man trudges over a turnpike road. Chaffingly, we were wont to tell him that he had entirely mistaken his vocation in life, and that instead of being ‘an upright judge,’ trying ‘niggers,’ he ought to have been another Blondin, trundling wheelbarrows on a rope stretched across Adam’s Bridge from Manaar to Ramisseram, and cooking a prawn curry in a stove when in the very middle of the Straits. ”

“ When the object of a proposed undertaking is a great public work, such as the construction of a line of railway, canal or water works, and when compulsory powers are required to purchase land, it is usual to obtain a special Act of Parliament in order to establish the Company and regulate its proceedings. As of old, such an endeavour is difficult and, as a rule, costly to carry through successfully. Difficult from the fact that most schemes of supposed public utility are sure to have a host of opponents, who fight the matter inch by inch. ”

“ We’ll manage to keep on the chambers somehow.’
‘All right,’ said Shield, nodding his head heavily. ‘But you don’t know what you are bringing on yourself. I’m fond of that.’
He pointed with his cigar to the brandy bottle. Philip gave his shoulders an impatient jerk; he had no need for this confession.
‘I hope not too fond, sir; although it is easy to understand how a man leading such a solitary life as yours has been may contract the habit of looking for comfort from that false friend. ”

“ A joint-stock Company once formed, can only be dissolved by means of ‘winding-up.’ The general grounds for winding-up may be stated as follows: whenever the Company passes a special resolution to that effect—whenever business is not commenced within a year from the incorporation of the Company, or when business is suspended for one year—whenever the members are reduced below the legal number of seven—whenever the Company is unable to pay its lawful debts—and lastly, whenever the Court deems it just and equitable that the Company should be wound-up. ”

“ Costly, too, because, if a private bill is opposed in its passage through the Committees of the Houses of Parliament, counsel—who require enormous fees—have to be engaged to defend the interests of the promoters; witnesses to give evidence as to the necessity for the line of railway, water-works, or whatever it may happen to be, have to be sent to London and kept there at much expense; and the solicitors who distribute the expenses retain always a considerable share for themselves. ”

“ Some financiers think the latter plan of limited liability the better of the two. In Companies constituted in the ordinary manner, it is common to find that all the capital has been called-up, so that if the evil day does arrive, and creditors, growing clamorous, institute proceedings for winding-up, they may find the original capital dissipated and nothing left to satisfy their demands, save, possibly, a worked-out mine and a quantity of old-fashioned or worthless machinery. Now, under the guarantee system there is always a fund, more or less great, available for the payment of liabilities ”

“ Business men and investors wanted greater facilities for launching joint-stock enterprises, and for the risking of a certain sum of money, and no more, in such concerns, thereby setting a limit to their liability. According to the old law of partnership, each and every member of a corporation or Company was liable to the utmost extent of his means for the liabilities that might have been contracted on behalf of the undertaking. ”

“ If A B, a supposititious shareholder, take a hundred shares in a limited Company, which has, say, a capital of fifty thousand pounds in ten thousand shares of five pounds each, he of course risks five hundred pounds in the concern, and no more. ”

“ It may be taken for granted that the objects and intentions of the Company are set forth in very captivating style, and that the best face is put on the matter, so that those having capital at command and on the outlook for media for investment may be induced to subscribe. The great vehicle for giving publicity to these prospectuses is the daily and weekly press, though thousands of them, printed in quarto or folio, are sent through the post to the private addresses of well-to-do persons throughout the country. ”

“ When a Company is to be started, the first step is the drawing-up of a Memorandum of Association. This document details the name of the Company, its registered office, the objects of the undertaking, whatever they may be, the manner of liability, the amount of capital, and how it is to be divided into shares. Then the persons—not fewer than seven—who are desirous of forming themselves into a Company subscribe their names, stating the number of shares they agree to take. ”

“ A Company of the nature indicated above is simply an association or partnership entered into by a number of individuals—not fewer than seven—who take shares, not necessarily in equal proportions, in the joint-stock of the concern, the main object being the proportionate division of possible profits. ”

“ A most engaging and affectionate creature, he never showed the smallest symptom of temper, or anything disagreeable save in one thing, and that was, a fixed aversion to a particular melody. Music generally, either vocal or instrumental, he never took the smallest notice of, or exhibited the slightest dislike to; but if any one played, sang, whistled, or even hummed the well-known and popular duet from the opera of Norma known by the name of ‘Si, fin’ al ora,’ no matter where he was or what he was doing, he would start up and commence the most dismal howling, with his nose elevated in the air. ”

“ The interesting mason-wasp, having with great care and skill bored out a cylindrical hole in some sunny sandbank, deposits at the bottom of this refuge her eggs. Next, provident mother as she is, she seeks out about a dozen small caterpillars, always of the same species, and immures them alive in the pit, as food for her cruel children. In making her selection of grubs to be thus buried alive, she rejects any that may not have reached maturity; not, we imagine, upon the score of their not being so full-flavoured, but because, when not full grown, they require food to keep them alive ”

“ When the joint agreement complies with the obligations laid down by statute, and is registered according to law, the subscribers become a corporation, and their Company has a common seal and ‘perpetual succession,’ to use a legal expression. It is only recently, comparatively speaking, that joint-stock Companies have existed in large numbers. Formerly, the formation of a Company was a difficult and costly operation, as a Royal Charter had to be specially obtained, or an Act of Parliament passed for the purpose. ”

“ A third, and certainly most remarkable, case of musical antipathy is all the more singular because it was not exhibited towards any special melody or instrument, but towards one particular person only—a lady. ”

“ If the business be that of banking, the number of persons is restricted to ten. One essential feature of joint-stock investment is that the shares therein may be transferred by any member holding them without the consent of the other shareholders, unless, of course, the rules of the particular Company provide otherwise. Now, in ordinary partnerships, a partner must obtain the consent of his fellow-partners before disposing of his interest in the concern.
All joint-stock Companies, even at the present time, are not incorporated under the Act of 1862. ”

“ Should everything be in due legal form, a certificate of registration is issued, and the Company becomes a corporation.
A Company may begin business as soon as it is registered; but this is not usual, as it is seldom that a sufficient number of shares have been subscribed to afford the requisite capital. To procure this, either before or after registration, the promoters issue a prospectus, stating the objects and prospects of the undertaking, and inviting investors to become shareholders in the Company. ”

“ All the law requires them to take is one share each, so that a Company with a very large nominal capital of one-pound shares might begin and perhaps carry on operations with a real capital of seven pounds only, represented by the seven shares issued to the original septet forming the Company. The fixing of a title is comparatively easy, though, of course, it must not clash with that of any existing corporation. Once named, it is seldom that a Company changes its cognomen ”

“ That great engine that never sleeps, as Thackeray once described the press, not unfrequently displays its energy and enterprise in the performance of feats both novel and interesting. All are more or less familiar with the daring and intrepidity of its ‘specials,’ who in their eagerness to supply those at home with full and graphic descriptions of stirring scenes, expose themselves to the risk of being shot ”

“ Cedar is universally used, except in very low qualities and carpenters’ pencils. Most of this wood comes from America; and Florida is one of the largest exporting States. The chief reasons for using cedar are—that it is easily worked, is soft, straight-grained, free from knots, and is sweet-scented. Am eminent firm of toilet-soap makers have taken note of this last quality, and purchase all the cedar sawdust that is made in these pencil-mills. A minimum of waste is one of the sure signs of an advanced civilisation. ”

“ After the Act of 1862 became law, a great number of Companies were originated, and each year sees them increasing, though the financial panic of 1866 was a great check to the promoters of such concerns, and a caution to enthusiastic believers in them. As may be supposed, Great Britain is foremost in this mode of investment; though several continental countries, notably France and the Netherlands, possess many commercial associations based on the plan of limited liability. ”

“ The first generation of these moths, emerging in May from pupæ which have lain in the granaries through the winter, lay their countless eggs upon the as yet ungathered corn, upon which their young play havoc until, having passed through the necessary stages, they come out in the autumn as the second generation amidst the now stored-up grain. Now, however, their instinct prompts them, not, like the first generation, to go forth to the fields to seek the{588} proper nest and future nourishment of their young, but bids them deposit their eggs upon the store of wheat ready at hand. ”

“ The butterfly, after flitting through her short life, seeks out a spot whereon to deposit her numerous eggs, not—as one might expect of a creature devoid of mind—upon any chance plant, or even upon the plant or flower from which she herself has been wont to draw her sustenance, but upon the particular plant which forms the invariable food of the larvæ of her species. ”

“ The female ichneumon having discovered a caterpillar or grub which her instinct informs her has not been previously attacked, at once proceeds to thrust her ovipositor into the writhing body of her victim, depositing one or more eggs, according to the size of the living food-supply. When hatched, the larvæ devour and live upon their foster-parent, avoiding in a marvellous way the vital parts of their victim, whose life is most accurately timed to last until its young tormentors are full grown, and not beyond. ”

“ What on earth, in your Ceylon griffinage, are you dreaming about? As for a bridge, well, metaphorically speaking, there is a thing which the natives call a bridge; but practically, not what you and I and the department of Public Works would class as one. However, it will not be long before you see what sort of a concern the bridge is like.’
We now hastened as fast as the animals we rode could lay hoofs to ground ”