A RAPID CAREER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 233, 6 November 1909, Page 4

A RAPID CAREER.

MR. lIORATIO JXVTTOJILEY, MP. According to many excellent authorities, tlie principal factor* which make for success in lift? arc resolution and endeavor. Jlut though the possession of 1 hese two qualities may wrest a triumph. even from uncongenial labor, the actual shaping of a man'* career seem?:, more often than not, to be largely a tjuestion of circumstance. This is particularly noticeable in th'» case of Horatio Jtoltoiulcy. Here ot have a strong, determined man, with iron nerves, indomitable will, and endless j)ower: yet. though he is l>v instinct a journalist and politician, nature, equipped him tor the law, aul circumstance sent him into the Ciiv. True, after several earlier attempts, he has at last settled down to the work nearest his heart, but many of his sueeeshe* were gained in tin; world of linance, and the reputation of being a City _ man still clings inexorably to him. nut kascixatkd bv fringes, j | Mr. liotlninley's earlie-t acquaintance with City life was made in quite a - 'humble way at the age of fourteen, lie wa* bum in ISllli. and. on leaving school, having-a.s he himself expresse.* it- failed dismally to justify the expectation* of his relatives (who had intended him for an artistic career), lu , entered the olliee of a Pari* manufacturer's agent, in Cheapside. . Here his duties consisted mainly in , tarrying samples of the latest pattCM j .in fringes around the West Knd houses. j | But fringes bore no fascination for' j him. The representations of a bun-shop i acquaintance led him to crave for tin* 1 more dignified work of a solicitor's office, and in the end he abandoned i. truck-load of the fringes in the middle of (Iresiuun-strcet. and returned no more to the man who owned them. Not long afterwards he obtained a situation in a 1 legal ullicc in Coleinan-titreet. j In the early part of 1875 young liot.toniley left the law, but returned to it two years later, having in thy interval learned shorthand, done little odds and ends for Mr. liradlaugh oik the National Reformer, and become an engraver o/i : wood lor the Illustrated London News. At the end of the two years he settled • ( down for a time in the ollicc of a firm of • i solicitors in Essex-street, Strand} and • it is an interesting fact that in after i ! | years he became one of this linn's prin- ' s j cipal clients. i !j AN ELOQUKNT ATMUSI'IIJEKE. ' . j He dropped ullice work in 1880 in , uder to become a shorthand writer in 1 I tile Law Courts, and here, sitting for j i ■ three year<* under men like the great I Sir (Jcorge Jessel, and listening daily to ! the eloquence of barristers who have : 1 yjnee risen to the Bench, h«j acquired j . , the intimate knowledge of practice and , ! procedure and developed the arts of au- | vocacy which have since earned him the ' i Reputation ot being the best lay lawv i* 1 »■ in the land. * * | .11 So far he had found infinite variety in ' tjMsbut little scope for his wondcrtui s abilities. Circumstance, however, was l busy with his future, and from one litt'e u | incident wrought a chain which so >n j ■ made him one of the most talked-of men B in the kingdom. He joined a debating l society at Hackney, and founded, In , connection with it, the Hacknev Ilau- | .(sard. J :i | The success of this paper led 1-* . numerous journalistic ventures, and sub- ! . se(|uent!y to the birth of the Financial s Times. | In the launching of this latter pap.'r i s l ,e wa * associated with a gentlwnan who » had a printing and publishing business. | and for some time the newspaper ami 1 l the were run conjoint!v bv the I r | a rlners. The arrangement, however, proved im- . i> practicable, ami one day Ilottoinley «ug- I s ge.s)«'d that one of tllein should conduct s the newspaper and the other tile n n:ss. With quixotic impulse he gave ! . Ins partner the choice between the two j enterprises, and though the partner was v a printer, he chusc the paper, with tile i result that the printing works, whicn , 1 wen? left in the hands of Mr. Hottomley, . ' became the genesis of the famous Ifa.,j t'nion. 1 I FAMOI'S KDITtJItS. i'| This gigantic undertaking aimed at f. being a combination of every dcpait- . I meat of the printing and publishing s >r;ide.>. ami in its origin I Intro can bl» i- doubt that it was a perfectly honest, ; bona fide transaction. Trouble arose in ( , ItfJl. and Mr. lkHlomley and his c><urectoi> \u*ve subsequently piwcute l ~ by the "Jreasury on the charge of con"piracy to defraud. But when the ea«s{> came before Lord , Brampton-then Sir Henry Hawkins- , . Mr. Boltomiey defended hiinsclf so ab'v j (hat after his triumphant acquittal th; I judge strongly advised him to so to tlr* ,j Bar. n Jtut three years of weary waiting 0 I seemed all too long for so active a man as Horatio Bottomlcy, and he went to the City instead. Th-rc, fur a time, nothing of importance happened, and Mr. Bottom lev, lining some capital left, courted Li* uhf i love—journalism. | lie acquired the Sun newspaper, and

He acquired the Sun newspaper, and under his control that unfortunate pap-r increased its circulation enormously, lint, despite its wonderful progress, it never really paid, and after some time the constant drain upon its proprietor's time and resources led him to part wiOi it again.

At one period of his ownership (he Sun was edited, in turn, by such celebrities as Ben Tillett, Dan lino, and 11.'?bert Campbell, and Dr. Parker, and its journalistic jest, "Has anyone seen our cat?" and the hunt for the imaginary animal which ensued, is still well rem v.r liored in Fleet-street.

A NAPOLEON OF FINANCE. By a combination of tliose circumstances which have played so largo !i part in his life, Mr. Bottoinley eoon afterwards became one of the principal pioneers of what was termed the "We t Australian Market," and within an in credibly short space of time this manysided man was acclaimed a Napoleon of finance.

But the list of his activities is not v<-t exhausted. Apart altogether from his commercial genius, his' journalistic bent, and the numerous legal troubles from which he has always emerged with such conspicuous success. Mr. Horatio Uotloniley is a politici,hi (t |' n0 mean order.

His first experience as a - nry candidate occurred in ISS7. when. 11l tile age of twenty-seven, lie con(esl'■.! llornsey with Mr. 11. C. Slevens, of bin ■- black in); renown.

Tlornscy was a Conservative slron': hold, and Mr. liottonilev was a Liberal. ( onseijiteiil|y. it was a'foregone conclusion (list lie would fail at Ihe polls; hut at Ihe last general election lie win South Hackney by a huge majority, mil ever since has been a prominent li<nnv in (lie House.

Willi Ihe debut of "John Null" in Willi, he shook the detested du-l of i'ic City from his feet—as he mninlains for ever, and settled down to (lie ~-oik which had always appealed mosi stroir.'. ly lo him. llutffto t - all that lie lias al last broken down the barriers of cir ciimstancc lo follow the incliua lions of liis heart there can be no doubl thill lie has deprived the world of a "rent lawyer. "

THE Cl'l.T lII' THE (JOfliSK. In addition to a k'gal knowledge e,|iial to ilial <>F almost, any barrister" uf tile present day. ],,, possesses all the suhtlclv anil power of the born advocate. ,m | even his voice low. melodious and strong—is admirably suited to tile profession he never embraced. .Mr. Hottomley takes a keen intcie<l in sporl. ami the owner of nianv welikuowii racehorses. In eoniparaliv.'lv 1 few years he won (he (.'esarewile'.i 'fie Stewards' Cup, (lie Ha(llirinv the Craw I'll rd Plate, the (•„.,* imd the Earl Spencer's I'laie. so, IM . „f them more than once: wiirUi "over IV' siieks" his successes have been niiinerous.—Answers.