CHAPTER IV. 



THE CAPITAL KEQUIRED. 



Before going into this question it will be necessary to 

 answer the question, AVhat is capital? Most young 

 men will exclaim^ '' The money my father has given me to 

 start with '/' or_, " The money I have inherited, or expect to 

 inherit/' But this is a most deceptive idea of capital^ as 

 excepting in the rare cases of the young man inheriting 

 large estates, where he has nothing to do but live off the 

 rent-roll, or wdiere it is so tied up that he has only to 

 take the interest w^ithout having anything to do with 

 managing the principal, the money inherited, unless 

 accompanied by a thorough knowledge of the business 

 in which it is to be employed, will soon be lost. There 

 is an old Birmingham saying, ^* The man that begins 

 business in his shirt-sleeves w^ill end in his carriage. 

 The man that begins in his carriage will end in his 

 shirt-sleeves." This is the case all the w^orld over, 

 but doubly so in the case of a man emigrating from 

 England to the Cape, wdiere everything is so dif- 

 ferent. 



So that we see capital in its useful sense consists 



