I, Robert Thonras Simpson, of Bury St. Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk, 

 Auctioneer and Valuer (a member of the firm of Salter, Simpson, and 

 Sons, of Attleboro', Norfolk, and Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk), hereby 

 certify that on the 3rd day of November last I made Valuations of the 

 Live and Dead Farming Stock, Corn and Covenants, upon the 

 Ditchingham and Bedingham Farms as occupied by Henry Rider 

 Haggard, Esq., the amounts of such Valuations being ^1,981 los. 

 and ;^68o ys. respectively, and that to the best of my judgment such 

 Valuations are fair and reasonable, and that the said amounts \\ ould 

 have been realised had the Farms actually passed from one occupier 

 to another at that date. 



As Witness my hand this 30th day of December, 1S9S. 



R. T. Simpson. 



From these documents it v/ill be seen that my profit on the 

 two places for the year amounts to 422/. i^s. 4^/., a round sum 

 which at first sight is enough to make the half-starved farmer 

 almost delirious with joy. After the first shout of triumph, liow- 

 ever, comes reflection. Among my readers may be persons who, 

 in search of new experiences of life, have gone upon the Boards of 

 l)ublic companies. If so, they will perhaps have discovered that 

 the chief advantages accruing to the director appear to be — that 

 he enjoys nights sleepless with anxiety and works like a slave for 

 no pay, since at the first pinch ' the Board ' is expected to jettison 

 its fees ; and that, although his pocket may be bare of gain and 

 his conscience white as the snows on Hecla, day by day he runs 

 the risk of seeing his conduct held up to the British public in some 

 strange and unexpected light. For in practice the director seems 



