The Irish standard., 1895-11-02

A1ASa OFSi oI0NAS. GHuOuACGllsJ lila
he would lend f10,o00, 900 on the stocks
OF companies in which he was interested
The trading in these shares developed
one of the most exciting scenes ever wit.
messed on the London market For g
time there was an almost indescribable
frenzy, and the shares were bid up tc
more than four times their face value
They subsided later, but the confidence
of the public is well attested by the fact
that they are still quoted at over three
times their face value.
The blind faith of the English people
in this modern Midas upsets all the theo-
ries of their national conservatism. 1t is
estimated that not less than S150,000,00C
has been subscribed, a large part Of it by
small investors, in the schemes and en-
terprises of the plausible Barney. ~
He was and is today the speculative
foe of Cecil Rhodes and resembles the
latter in the scope of his enterprises and
nerve with which he backs them.
Rhodes companies and Barnato compan-
les are rivals for the favor of capital
wherever ''Kaffirs'' are quoted. e
Barnato resorted to the familiar meth
od of working a number Of mines under
the same capital From this union of
workable mines came the name groups
In London Barnato is spending mill
ion on palace in Piccadilly, which he
will occupy when it is finished. Mean
while he is occupying Earl Spencer
house. His name was mentioned as a
possible challenger for the Americas
cup. He is a lavish spender, and among
his luyuries, so it is reported, is a bath
of champagne.
Alfred II. De Montgomery, a mining
engineer of New York, who was in Kim
berry ten years ago, said he saw Barnato
at that time walking the streets peddling
watches, matches and all sorts. His
fortune was made by an accident which
nobody had foreseen. Shortly after the
mines of Kimberly were discovered there
were about 10000 diggers working the
surface of the mine. About one hundred
feet down the ground suddenly changed
from yellow sand to solid blue ground
hard as granite. All the miners gave UP
their claims, thinking the mine worked
out. Only one digger went down about
200 feet, but he was stopped by the rainy
season Which set in. He left about 200
tons of solid blue earth lying on the floor
and left the country.
"After four months Barney walked
over the mine and found 30-carat blue
white diamond lying right on the top of
the soil which came ;out OF the 200-foot
shaft. With the action of water and air
the ground got pulverized and small
fortune was looking on Barney. He sold
the stone and pegged all the mine out
in his name; there were sevral thousand
claims, worth ait least f1,000,000 Sterling
at that time. Lot after lot he sold out I'd
different companies for cash and interest,
and through his streak OF luck he was pos
SCISSOR of about f2,0b0,000.
"In 1892 all the companies amalgamat-
ed with De Beers company, which is the
sole possesor of the fields at the present.
Cecil Rhodes, the prime minister OF the
Cape Colony, Barney. Barna;to and 9loel
brothers are the biggest share holders IN
this company.
Long before the anlalgamation in 1886
Barney went to Johannesberg, Where ne
bought several mines for mere song, as
the diggers could not afford to pay the
heavy license money each month to the
gove e11mnent The mines turned out
truInps, as everybody knows, and Barney
is now the gold king of South Africa rul-
ing the kafhrs. Although he is the rich
est man i'll South Africa, except Cecil
Rhodes. his manners are not up to the
standard. Through his bad language
and insulting manners to the Leading
members he was expelled from the kim
berly Club, and eight months afterwards
from the Rand Club in Johannesberg.
The Rand Club is the leading club Of all
South Africa. .
Il don't think that Barney is proud Of
his ancestors, as he was born and brought
I'D in Whitechapel, in London. This I
know positively to be tine truth. But IN
London society money washes many
sins and bad regulations out