Mr Hooley Interviewed.

Manawatu Herald, 28 July 1898, Page 2

Mr Hooley Interviewed.

In the course of an interview Mr Hooley said •' the immediate cause of my petition was the action of a well* known furniture dealer, who has had enormous sums from me, and who pat the bailiff* in my home in Hillst. for £1,875, and refused to giva me a week's delay. A bank which has bandied £5,000,000 of my money sent baok my wages cheque for £150. These things made the bankruptcy petition compulsory. If it htd not been filed to-day I should have been sold up to-morrow. I have promoted companies that I have not made a single penny out of because the news* papers took all the profit. I have paid one paper alone £40,000. A single article in another papar cost me £10,000."—" And how do the papers you have in your mind con* duct their campaign ?" — Mr Hooley continued. "As soon as it is known " that a company is coming out I am besieged by them and their repre* sentatives. They come quite openly and say, < Well what are we going to get out of this V I have seen a file of 20 of them waiting together in the corridor at the Midland Hotel. 'So and So's coming oat?' they say. • Yes,' you answer ; * but there isn't much in it ; it cost me co much. You shall have £1,000.' That, perhaps, is not enough, and you keep on bargaining in the ordinary way until a price is fixed." — " And that is paid as ?" "Well, I don't know what you call it." — •• What do you call it ?" " Black-mail. That's the word."— "But are not these amounts put down as charges for advertisements ?" " Not at all ; the payment for advertisementswhatever the amount may be — is done through the advertisement office in the ordinary way." " But." added Mr Hooley, "I am going to clear myself before the public. I'm losing now everything that's worth having, bat I'll get it back again, and some people will find they hate made a mistake is persecuting me. They thought I had a million or two put by, and that I was fair game (or them. There seems to be quite a general idea that if a man makes £100,000 profit on a camparjMthough it's often nearer £20,00(foy the time everything is settled— he maybe blackguarded and blackmailed with impunity. If a man puts his money in a gold mine, and the shares go down to 4sd. he dosen't equeak, but if he goes into an industrial company and the directors play the fool, nothing satisfies him but litigation^ — Then you have known directors to 'play the fool'?" "Some of my companies have been grossly mismanaged. It his nothing to do with me. I am simply the promoter." — " And the promoter's function — ?" "Is to sell the property to the best advantage."