ADVICE.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1150, 13 February 1874, Page 3

ADVICE.

( To the Editor of the West-port Times.) Sir, —From a stray copy of the Marlborough Express I have gleaned an extract wherein the arguments expressed are so very applicable to certain Westport people and their transactions, that I submit it as being worth the trouble of reprint in your columns. Tours, &c, Watch. advice to would-be investors. Sir, —Allow me through the medium of your columns tooffer a word of advice to those having surplus cash, and therefore liable to be tempted by any undertaking offered to their notice with the usual flourish of trumpets, and more especially liable when the undertaking is a local one. Assuming that the object of the investors is a fair profit on the capital expended, and a reasonable limit to the liability, I would advise them to look well at the undertaking from all points : —lst. Its necessity ; 2nd. Its probability of becoming " a decided .financial succe's' 1 ; 3rd. Its promoters, usually figuring as Provisional Directors, and their object in appealing to the public for assistance; and lastly, the likelihood of conducting their business in the terms of their office, as embodied in the Prospectus. To illustrate ray meaning I will, hap hazard, select one from the many undertakings lately brought before the public, and submit it to the above tests. " The Co., Limited." The professed object of the Promoters is to supply " a, thoroughly independent and impartial newspaper." This must be looked upon as both a worthy and necessary object in any community, and carried out is one deserving of support. The promoters tell us that " with proper management they lelieoe it will be a decided success." On this point I must remark that the promoters do not appear over sanguine, as they only go the length of believing that under certain conditions financial success will ensue. They do not venture into the region of figures to show the cost of plant and management, or the anticipated returns from their subscriptions, advertisements, and the sale of waste paper. In fact as the matter now stands, the probability of this scheme turning out " a much seeded boon to the inhabitants of the province," and " a decided success," rests on a due consideration of the composition of the promoters, or Provisional Directors, and their object. Looking at the names put forth as "the promoters," would it not be ridiculous in the extreme to expect that a newspaper under their control and management could by any possibility he thoroughly independent and impartial. Independent in one sense it most undoubtedly would be, for the idea of Public Opinion, however strong, having any weight with Messrs , 1 , , and , where their own political feelings and interests are concerned, appears to me, judging from a long acquaintance with the persons named, preposterous, nay more, impossible. We may therefore conclude that the paper wouhl be independent in one sense only, and that the worst. Even more preposterous and impossible does it appear to me to look for impartiality in the columns of a paper under their control. Taking this view of the promoters and their objects, which 1 venture to opiue is the one nearly everyone will take, it would appear : Ist. That there is no necessity for the . 2nd. That its probability of financial success, judging from the status of the aforesaid existing points must be nil ; 3rd. That from the antecedents of the promoters, it is reasonable to suppose that they are appealing to the public for assistance to enable them to bolster a falling cause. And lastly, that it is unlikety, if not impossible, that they could conduct the business in the terms of the Prospectus. Taking all these points into consideration, I should strongly advise would-be investors to defer their application for shares. * * # # To those who sympathise with the ends and aims of Messrs , , , and ——, and feel bound to stand by their cause, I would say subscribe as much as you like towards bolstering

it up, but do not ruu the risk that attaches to a shareholder * * * * I am, &e., One who has been Victimized.