In England, we have the greatest possible objection to state interference in private affairs. As a rule, we are right. But are there not exceptions to this as to every rule? Is it not part of a government’s duty to protect the foolish and unwary from being made the dupes of men who trade upon the credulity of others, and who bring ruin to countless numbers? It is not the idle or depraved of society who are the victims of these spurious concerns. Unlike those of the gaming-tables, the Joint-stock Company swindles generally entrap and ruin men who try to increase their income by legitimate means. The following is a case which has come under the present writer’s personal knowledge. A gentleman who had served nearly thirty years in the Indian Civil Service, came home with his well-earned income of one thousand a year and a few thousands at his banker’s. His children were grown up and well settled in life. He had no expensive habits; and beyond an occasional game at whist, limited to sixpenny points, and perhaps half-a-crown on the rubber, he never staked money in playing or betting. He took chambers in the West End, was a member of the Oriental and other clubs, and settled down apparently to pass a comfortable uneventful life, until summoned to go over to the majority. For a time all went quietly and well with him; but, like most Englishmen, he found it hard to live without work, and time was very heavy on his hands. While in this frame of mind, he, very unfortunately for him, as it turned out, met an old Indian friend, a retired military officer, who believed himself to be making a fortune in Joint-stock Companies. As was to be expected, this old friend took him into the City and introduced him to some so-called City men, individuals whose right to such a title would certainly be repudiated by members of the Stock Exchange, or by those engaged in any legitimate City business. By these new acquaintances he was at once marked down as a new, and therefore a very valuable addition to the numerous body of ‘guinea-pigs,’ who are so useful to the fraternity. It was soon ascertained that, in addition to a comfortable pension, he had by him a by no means despicable sum in ready-money. Very few days after these introductions, he was asked by a Financial Agent if he would accept a seat at the Board of a Company that was about to be floated. The terms to be, two hundred pounds a year paid him as a director, and fifty fully paid-up shares of ten pounds each.