And what about the unfortunates who were rash enough to apply for shares in the Company? Well, they must, like the rest of the world, be content to suffer for their own acts. No one persuaded them to apply for shares; they have lost their money; and no doubt some of them will be ruined. But what of that? If any one is to gain in a business of this kind, some one must lose. And how about the prospectus which induced them to part with their money? Many who have never been behind the scenes in the Company promoting business will doubtless think this sketch overdrawn. But let such persons inquire amongst those who know the real meaning of Finance without Funds. Some who read this paper will say there are in London Companies and Companies, and it may be that many, even that the great majority of these are blameless as to their representations and statements. It may be so; but what of the others? In the year 1884, there were registered in London no fewer than 1541 Companies, with a capital amongst them of £138,491,428, and even this was a great falling-off from the number of previous years. In 1882, the registered capital of the Companies that had sprung up was £250,000,000; and in 1883 it amounted to £167,000,000. Of these, who shall say how many were _bonâ fide_, and how many were, in plain English, mere financial swindles—swindles of a far more objectionable kind, and infinitely more dangerous to the public at large, than many offences which have been classed as such, and for which those who have perpetrated them are now undergoing penal servitude? And what of the numerous individuals who have been reduced to poverty, who have been, owing to their credulity, forced into the Bankruptcy Court, and condemned for the rest of their days to a miserable struggle for existence? It is very certain that neither Monte Carlo, nor Homburg when its gambling-tables were in existence, ever did, or ever will, work one-tenth part of the moral and social evil that what may be called commercial swindlers have in England during the last twenty years. And the evil is still on the increase. The figures quoted above speak for themselves, and require little or no comment. Is it possible that in two consecutive years, 1883-84—both of which were noted as being exceptionally dull as regards commercial enterprise—such an enormous sum as upwards of four hundred and twenty millions could have found any legitimate source of employment by means of new Joint-stock Companies? Were it possible to work out such a problem, it would be a good thing if a far too confiding public could be authentically informed how much of the four hundred millions was subscribed for such Companies as the ‘Fiji Islands Tramway Company (Limited).’ Still more instructive would it be to know how many individuals who play at the game of amateur finance were ruined by the means they expected should make their fortune.