These companies are mostly formed for the purpose of employing their capital in the Colonies, where money commands a higher rate of interest, and can be more profitably employed than in this country.
Some of the older concerns have been suc- cessful, but of the whole number of existing companies at least one-half, judging from the price of their shares, have been failures. The difficulty with these concerns would seem to be the want of direct control, their business having chiefly to be conducted by agents who often consider their own interests before their employers'. Some of these companies appear to have advanced large sums of money on the security of land which they can neither sell nor let, and which has been abandoned by the borrower.
FINANCIAL TRUSTS.
The shares in these trusts were at one time much sought after as an investment. The ostensible business of a trust company is to purchase shares and stocks of other concerns at favourable opportunities, and to invest widely in foreign and other companies offering good dividends, so as to average a high rate of inter- est. They are divided into debenture stock, preferred stock, and deferred stock. The latter has its share of the profits after the others have been satisfied, and at present three-fourths of the companies now doing business have their deferred shares at a discount. The financial collapse in Argentine, some years since, very seriously affected most of these concerns, and it is doubtful, in view of the risky nature of the business, whether they will ever come into favour again.
INSURANCE COMPANIES.
Under the head of Life, Fire, and Marine Insurance, these companies, as a class, have been more steadily successful than others. Most of these concerns are making large profits, and their shares command a high premium; so high, indeed, that an investment at current prices yields but a moderate rate of interest. The risks undertaken by insurance offices are enor- mous in extent, but the law of average by which they are conducted is so accurate that, taken in the long run, and with sufficient business main- tained, misfortune is almost impossible. In all cases, however, so little is called up of the nominal amount of their shares, that a very large liability attaches to them.
STEAMSHIP COMPANIES.
Judging from the prices of the shares in these companies, they have not been very successful as a whole, and it would appear that a Govern- ment subsidy for mail or other service is almost necessary to make them profitable.
MINES.
Speculation in shares of mining companies has of late years been indulged in to an enor- mous extent, and large fortunes have been made and much money lost. As a rule the prizes have been secured by those behind the scenes, and the public have not had the opportunity of participating until the price of shares had reached a figure which was almost prohibitory. As an investment mining shares, even of the best, are not to be recommended. Mines are apt to get worked out when the source of income fails and there is an end to the concern. More- over, hundreds of companies are promoted which have a specious appearance on the prospectus, and are puffed in every imaginable way, when they have not an ounce of ore or a yard of ground to call their own. Of course, there are genuine undertakings which answer well and yield large profits, but it is extremely difficult to discriminate between the good and the bad, and the best after all are but a speculation.