The enlargements and alterations and the provision of facilities for expeditious dealing and of conveniences for the comfort of the members naturally mean a large amount of expenditure; but, in spite of this, the Managers have always succeeded in making the market-place pay its proprietors, and pay them handsomely. On the four hundred shares of £50 each, which formed the original capital of the Stock Exchange when it was opened in 1802, there were no dividends for the first three years, but then a series of annual £10 dividends set in, with the result that within seven or eight years from the outset the whole of the capital had been returned in dividends. Until the end of 1853 the shares remained £50 paid, and by that time no less than £571 had been paid on each share in dividends. As there was a £25 call in 1853, the shares became £75 paid, and in 1854 a dividend of £13 was distributed. In the following year there was no dividend--the fabric of the Stock Exchange had been entirely rebuilt--but a call of £25, making the shares £100 paid. On these £100 the dividends amounted in the years 1856 to 1867 inclusive to £192. Then in 1869 there was again no dividend, but a call of £25, and in the next seven years, from 1869 to 1875 inclusive, the dividends amounted to £490 10_s._, and the calls to £155. Thus, at the end of 1875, when a reorganisation of capital took place, the shares had become £280 paid, and on each of these had been distributed £1,266 10_s._ All this is to show that the Stock Exchange was a huge financial success from its inception--that the market-place has paid its proprietors. By a further reorganisation of capital the shares had become £12 paid in 1882, and in that year the dividend was £3 18_s._ It went on increasing steadily for many years after that: £5 being paid for 1888, £6 for 1893, £7 10_s._ for 1896, £8 for 1899, £9 for 1900, £10 for 1904, and £12 for 1905. This £12 a share has so far been the maximum rate of dividend. In May, 1911, a call of £1 a share was made, making the shares £13 paid, and the most recent dividend was £10 10_s._ a share. The liability on the shares is unlimited, but no more than £2 can be called up in any one year. The market price of each £13 share has for some time been round about £160, whilst the 3 per cent. debentures are quoted at about 83. CHAPTER III THE MEMBERS AND THEIR CLERKS