Received 14-12-92
Answered 21-12-92
Lancing
Sunday 23 October 1892
My dear Chris
Your letter of 5 September came this morning.
Your remarks about close hard work quite agrees with my idea. What you have imposed on yourself, Alec and helps such as they are ???? desire to make progress rapidly has probably induced you to take up that cause much work, with poor results. Why not drop those ???? that are least profitable and prosecute those where you see your way to ???? profit and better success.
My impression is that your liquor business ???? result in much profit. You no doubt have to give longish orders ???? bad debts, and if the trade is at all like what it is in this country now don’t see you can make much out of it. A London distiller named Adam Hill lives here. He has told me a lot about the business ???? This man spent ten years on the various diggings in New Zealand and came home some years ago to take up this business which had been in the family for three lives. He says the trade is so much overdone it is scarce worth prosecuting, He finds it most difficult to get reliable men to hold the ????. Honesty is out of the question. In most cases they cause him no end of trouble. He would sell out if a buyer could be found. I expect your retail ???? are much of the same kind and not much to be trusted and cause you ????.
However, you will know enough by your short experience to judge whether they
is worth the candle – only don’t burn the candle at both ends, else there be nothing of you left to enjoy the competence when it is made.
As ???? business increases, you might confine yourself chiefly to that matter
and dont speculate too much. Give your mind and brain plenty of rest, eat and sleep.
Archie would be a grand assistant to you. He is so straight and steady. ????
urged him to take the matter of joining you into serious consideration
up his mind by the time he returns. I think it better that I should not ????
which course to take strongly, but leave the decision to himself. He is ????
I know of getting a command, which I may be able to assist him ????.
But then if he waits for that it would be too late to join you. If he was placed
command in his present service, the pay would not exceed ₤18 andhe ????
asked to take up a few shares in the Company – part of his pay going to ????
off the score. He would be better off as Chief. I believe this is the rule. He is
of this. If you are pretty certain of his being able to make a couple of ????
a year with you, and have good prospect of your business increasing, my ????
it that he would be foolish not to come to you at once on his return. You must ???? straight statement before him at Sydney or Brisbane to get his answer.
The prospect of a company undertaking the extension of your railway
Herberton must be very discouraging. It is just what is wanted to send Croydon
to the front. I met a German – an old Colonial, at the Reform Club Sydney
but forget his name, who had prospected all over your district and the ????
at back of Cairns, he gave me the most glowing description of the
of the country and scenery, made me almost long to go and settle there ????
to go and seek an interview with the Agent General one day soon to get some information from him on this subject, and get if possible maps of North Queensland ????
???? a nice site for a homestead on the hills with plenty of water or a stream
close by, would be a fine sanitarium for the enervated dwellers in Croydon
to fly to get some of your knowing friends to look out a choice site.
I don’t know whether you would care about Noel coming out to be an ???? to you by and by. He will be a smart lad and would be a great help in a short time. But I doubt if he has strength of mind enough to resist the temptations evil he would be beset with although, in my opinion, not much greater than London or any of our large towns. He would have to be housed with one or other of his elder brothers, and kept under guidance for some time.
Mentioned before I thought of getting Tasman to take him for a time but am at a loss what to decide upon for him. I must keep at school much longer.
Give me your ideas.
28 October
You will have leant ere this comes how much interest I ???? taken in getting the Moonstone company carried through ???? ₤3000 was sent through Reuters on the 24th and we are awaiting a reply saying the transfer had been completed. I left town the 25th and have not gone up again – the weather is very bad, so have
not heard if your message has come.
I hope after all our trouble ???? the transfer will be made without any hitch, but as I told you in last, we have good authority for believing that someone or XX
persons have been trying to baulk us by offering a lawyer. You will no doubt tell us all about that by and by.
Meantime this ???? general stagnation in speculation has prevented the shares
going off freely. Only about 6000 shares are applied for and allotted out of the
16 000. I have influenced with my own, 1700 of these the ???? directors, in all about 2000. We contributed on the 24th ₤350 each up the ₤3000 and ₤600 to Stormont – to pay the preliminary expenses.
So soon as we know that the property as described in our prospectus is the ????
and we can make it known publicly the balance of the shares will go quickly. The
men who have been trying to bluff the company have given out: “The claims were not bought and could not be.” I trust you will have an opportunity of bluffing the said ???? one day soon.
My co-directors are all good men. Mr Martin, the Chairman, is well up in this sort of work and straight to a nicety. Backhouse and Platz ???? men are first class business men and most earnest in their endeavours to make this a success – and pleasant men to be associated with. In fact it would be hard to find another
quartette like us. There is none of the selfish professional company-promoting element among us.
I think Tasman has been specially lucky in selecting Martin and Backhouse
and getting them to act – he pressed me very hard. I was very unwilling, but now do not regret. It is something to do and think about and I trust it will lead to some profit for you and myself. I do not know if the Secretary will address you by this mail, but it was resolved to ask you to be legal manager and secretary and sign cheques with Murdoch for outlay etc. Your remuneration for the present to be ₤100. You may not consider this enough. It can be amended.
I don’t quite know what to think about Stormont. He is a very agreeable nice sort of fellow, but he does not seem to me to be quite the man to battle the watch with a well established firm like Forbes & Company if they won’t act friendly, and Barker you know, will do anything to hell your name. But of course he won’t succeed.
If this venture succeeds and Stormont gets in friends therewith he will brighten up and possibly show up a better man. He has been unfortunate and is depressed.
I must finish up by wishing that you may be able to put other properties our way to put in this market – you fixing the price to be paid, and we putting one or more
of them in the market here as similar and in succession to the Moonstone.
Hope you are well, and with love from us all at home.
Your affectionate Father,
Jas A Elmslie
Mr C T Elmslie
Croydon
Queensland North