HIRE PURCHASE 



Hire Purchase System. Me- 

 thod of purchasing goods by instal- 

 ments. It is largely used by persons 

 of moderate means wishing to 

 obtain immediate possession of 

 expensive articles such as pianos, 

 suites of furniture, bicycles, or 

 sewing machines. There is almost 

 always an agreement in writing 

 between the parties ; a special con- 

 dition being that if any instalment 

 becomes in arrear, the vendor may 

 recover his property and all pre- 

 vious instalments are forfeited. For 

 this purpose the document, though 

 really an agreement to purchase, is 

 drawn as one to let and hire. The 

 instalments are treated as payments 

 for the hire of the goods, which 

 remain the lender's property ; but 

 with a proviso that if all instal- 

 ments are punctually paid, the 

 ownership passes to the hirer. 

 Meantime the latter has no right to 

 dispose of the property, or to put 

 it under pledge. 



Hirosaki. City of Honshu, 

 Japan, in the province of Mutsu. 

 It stands in the Tsugaru plain near 

 a range of hills, 20 m. by rly. 

 S.S.W. of Aomori. It has castle 

 ruins and a museum. On the W. 

 of the town is the solitary cone of 

 Iwakisan, 4,650 ft., which forms 

 a prominent landmark. Hirosaki 

 is noted for its apples and silk, and 

 the inhabitants are expert in the 

 manufacture of fine lacquer ware. 

 An important and picturesque 

 town, it is the headquarters of a 

 high court. Pop. 34,900. 



Hiroshige, MOTONAGA (1797- 

 1858). Japanese genre and land- 

 scape painter. He studied under 

 Riansa'i Okajima and Toyoturo 

 Ontagawa. His somewhat rare 

 paintings and colour prints of 

 Japanese landscape are of high 

 artistic value. He died at Yeddo. 

 The Melbourne Gallery, Australia, 

 possesses a snow scene by him. 



Hiroshima. City of Honshu, 

 Japan, in the prefecture of Hiro- 

 shima. It is picturesquely situated 

 at the head of a bay, on the S. 

 coast of the island, 190 m. W.S.W. 

 of Kobe, on the rly. between that 

 city and Shimonoseki. Facing the 

 city is the sacred islet of Itsukushi- 

 ma, famous for its beautiful Shinto 

 temple, a resort of thousands of 

 pilgrims to whom the island is 

 known as the Island of Light. 



In the city itself there are many 

 temples and shrines, a recreation 

 ground, and numerous tea-houses. 

 Commercially important, Hiro- 

 shima carries on a brisk trade in 

 lacquered ware, bronze goods, and 

 objects of art, being the largest 

 depot for the surrounding district 

 on the Inland Se. Ujina, 4 m. 

 away, is a busy port for steamers 

 in the Inland Sea and Formosa 



Hiroshima, Japan. Wharves and river craft at the head of the bay 



trade, and, since 1894, an impor- 

 tant transport base in time of war. 

 Pop. 167,400. 



Hirsch, MAUPJCE, BARON DE 

 (1831-96). Jewish financier and 

 philanthropist. He was born at 

 Munich, Dec. 

 9, 1831, his 

 father and 

 I grandfather 

 I having been 

 I bankers to the 

 I Bavarian 

 I court. Having 



'fftm ma( ^ e an enor- 

 IfeiMK 1 I mous fortune 

 by obtaining 

 concessi ons 

 from the Otto- 



( Maurice ^ man govern- 

 Hirsch) <^ meat for the 



construction 

 of the Balkan railways, he be- 

 came an Austrian subject, and 

 bought a magnificent estate at 

 Ogyalla in Hungary. He took an 

 active interest in the Turf, his filly 

 La Fleche winning the Oaks, the 

 St. Leger, and the Thousand 

 Guineas in 1892. He contributed 

 more than 2,000,000 to a society 

 for settling Russian Jews in the 

 Argentine and in Canada, and did 

 much in other directions to help 

 distressed members of his race. 

 He died April 21, 1896. 



Hirschberg. Town of Ger- 

 many, in Silesia. It lies 30 m. S,W. 

 of Liegnitz, at the junction of the 

 Zacken and the Bober, between 

 the Katzbach Mts. and the Riesen 

 Gebirge. It contains two Gothic 

 churches (Protestant and Roman 

 Catholic) and an arcaded market 

 place. The town is a starting-point 

 for excursions to the Riesen 

 Gebirge, and is a trade centre, with 

 manufactures of linen, machine 

 shops, etc. Pop. 20,561. Another 

 Hirschberg is on the Saale, about 

 14 m. W.S.W. of Plauen. 



Hirschfeld, GEORG (b. 1873). 

 German novelist. Born in Berlin, 

 Nov. 11, 1873. he came under the 

 influence of Gerhart Hauptmann, 

 and at the age of twenty took up 



literature. In 1895 he produced 

 Damon Kleist, followed by several 

 plays, one of which, Die Mutter, had 

 a successful run in 1896. His best 

 known works were Freundschaft, 

 1902 ; Das griine Band, 1905 ; 

 Das Madchen von Lille, 1907; 

 Onkel und Tante Van tee, 1913. 



Hirson. Town of France, in the 

 dept. of Aisne. It is on the R. Oise, 

 llm. N.E. of Vervins and 34 m. 

 E. of St. Quentin. A f actorv town, 

 it is an important railway junction, 

 where five double-track lines meet. 

 It had a fort equipped with a dis- 

 appearing turret, but everything 

 there was in lamentable disrepair in 

 Aug., 1914. The garrison con- 

 sisted of 500 hastily mobilised 

 territorials. In face of the German 

 advance after Charleroi it was 

 evacuated by the French on Sept. 

 1 and was occupied by Germans. 

 On Nov. 10, 1918, it was captured 

 by the French. Pop. 9,000. See 

 Valenciennes. 



Hirst, GEORGE HERBERT (b. 

 1871). English cricketer. Born 

 Sept. 7, 1871, at Kirkheaton, he 

 became amem- 

 ber of the 

 Yorkshire 

 county eleven 

 in 1892. He 

 was a fine 

 batsman, and a 

 fast left-hand 

 bowler, with a _ 

 most deceptive I^Hl ^ JBBB 

 swerve. His George Hirst, 

 best batting English cncketer 

 season was 1904, when he scored 

 2,501 runs for an average of 54 36 

 per innings, and his best bowling 

 season was 1906, when he took 208 

 wickets for an average of 16'5. 

 He has scored 1,000 runs and taken 

 100 wickets on 14 occasions, and 

 in 1906 he scored 2,000 runs and 

 captured 200 wickets. Altogether 

 he played 60 innings of 100 and 

 upwards. In 1920 he became 

 cricket coach at Eton. 



Hirtius, AULUS (d. 43 B.C.). 

 One of the lieutenants of Julius 

 Caesar in Gaul. The authorship of 



