My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

MONEY MATTERS 359termed it, in Indian securities, and so imbued me withan idea of his great knowledge of the money market,that I was persuaded to sell out some of my bondsand debentures and buy others that he recommended,which brought in a higher interest, and which hebelieved would soon rise considerably in value. Thischange went on slowly with various success for severalyears, till at last I had investments in variousEnglish, American, and foreign railways, whose fluctuationsin value I was quite unable to comprehend,and I began to find, when too late, that almost all mychanges of investment brought me loss instead ofprofit ; and later on, when the great depression oftrade of 1875-85 occurred, the loss was so great as tobe almost ruin.In 1 866 one of my oldest friends became secretaryto a small body of speculators, who had offices inPall Mall, and who, among other things, were buyingslate quarry properties, and forming companies towork them.I was persuaded to take shares, and to be adirector of these companies, without any knowledgeof the business, or any idea how much capital wouldbe required. The quarries were started, machinerypurchased, call after call made, with the result in bothcases that, after four or five years of struggle, thecapital required and the working expenses were sogreat that the companies had to be wound up, and Iwas the loser of about a thousand pounds.While this was going on a still more unfortunateinfluence became active. My old friend in Timorand Singapore, Mr. Frederick Geach, the miningengineer, came home from the East, and we becamevery intimate, and saw a good deal of each other.He was a Cornishman, and familiar with tin, lead,