Lucky Men.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 32, 12 January 1884, Page 7

Lucky Men.

Some years ago, when the first team of English cricketers went to Australia, they were accompanied by two men named Spiers and Pond, who landed at Sydney with only a penny apiece in their pockets. They closely followed the amateurs, however, and managed to earn money enough to buy small lots of refreshments. The cricket fields were noted for the poverty of refreshment stands. Spiers and Pond invested their little capital in food and drink. They coined guinea after guinea, until at last they were strong in pocket, and confident in their ability to open up a wide range of business. They took leases of railroad companies to maintain buffets at the stations along the lines of travel in England and Scotland. For years there hud bjen great complaint. One by one the small beginners opened new places, and one by one they established drinking palaces in London until their business grew to enormous proportions. Some time ago Pond died, leaving property worth three-quarters of a 'million* The firm has employed 10,000 girls since its start, and now gives employment to nearly 3,000 bar maids, who are under discipline as strict as that of the regular army.