There are, of course, many persons who have the means of acquiring reliable information about a company, and are able to form a sound opinion as to its prospects, but the information is derived from personal knowledge and not from kind friends or from public prints, which are not always to be trusted. These persons purchase shares either for investment or as a speculation -- in this latter case with a know- ledge or, at all events, a safe presumption that they will go to a premium, that is, rise in value to considerably more than their nominal amount, either from their own merits, or from an active demand for them on the part of the public, or by artificial stimulation. The holders know pretty well when the highest price has been reached, and then sell out with great advantage to them- selves. It is often at that moment that the _tyro_ is recommended to buy, or is seized with a desire to have a share in so good a concern, and parts with his money. The knowing speculator has taken his profit, and sees with grim satisfaction the shares gradually declining in value, until they arrive at the position of more than one- third of existing companies which are now quoted at a discount. FINANCIAL LAND AND INVESTMENT COMPANIES. 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.