RUBBER ROMANCE
NEW ZEALAND LADY'S FORTUNE. A MILLION IN SHARES. >. "Quite a sensation was caused,'* (wrote a London city man to a New Zealand correspondent on March 24), a few days.ago, "by the abearance of a lady &t a rubber sale in Mincing Lane. She is said to have large investments in rubber." There is more in this for the New Zealander than meets the eye. The lady referred to is Mrs. McGregor, an active old lady, who resided in New Zealand many years ago, and the acquisition of her-ortline reads like ia romance. It was in 1875 that Mr. and Mrs. McGregor, with their family, left from ilnvercargill on their return to Scotland. They were amongst the early settlers of Southland, and for some years Mr. McGregor had charge of a station m the neighborhood of Ardlussa. They w<ere not successful. Many of the old settlers at the time had to bow their heads to submission. Returning to Scotland, Mr. McGregor came into some .property under a will and, dying not many years later, left it to be administered as well as possible by Ihis widow. Though a shrewd business woman, Mrs. McGregor would probably never have ventured quite so boldly as she was destined to had it Slot been for the chance wanderings of her son. Finding his way to the Malay Peninsula, he took ujp land and .planted rubber. He proved lan excellent manager of native labor, and his mother was able to provide the necessary capital from time to time to secure the best Para rubber plants for the property. In those days rubber was not the desiredatum it has since become, and a't length, when there were still no signs of the property becoming .financially successful, Mrs. McGregor felt thiaf s'he haa arrived at the stage when she must be very cautious in making further advances. Practically her whole capital had been sunk in the plantations, and no return was coming in.
At this juncture she received an offer from a company for the purchase of the property outright. It was inadequate to recoup .her expenditure on the estate. and she refused to accept. Determined to .see the thing through., she decided, though over seventy years of age, to make a personal inspection of the'plantation, and she did so. Everything was satisfactory .except that the world was not using enough rubber.
Hardly had she ireturned to England, however, when rubber recommenced to "move." People began to look about for properties, .to plant feverishly, to buy shares where no rubber Kvas. Mrs. McGregor's day had come. Her waiting and her shrewd foresight were justified. The people who had offered to purchase the property now frankly admitted she was right, and m«ule a new- offer ot double the sum. . She was the vendor of the Anglo-Malay Company. She .received as muoh in cash as the previous company had offered for the whole estate, And her share holding in the company worked out at aibout £60,000. The original £1 shares were cut down to 2s, and as the t\vo-sihiHin.<r shares have gone up to 325, Mrs. McGregor's shares are worth about £1,000,000. She has been receiving dividends of 200 per cent, on her money, and, needless to say, whenever she .happens to buy a small parcel of shares in any rubber company at all, the speculators immediately go for them Jind the investment goes up points.
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 388, 13 May 1910, Page 8
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568RUBBER ROMANCE Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 388, 13 May 1910, Page 8
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