MORE FINANCIAL TROUBLE 335 



gallant effort to salve the old St Stephen's, but my instinct 

 had been a correct one and he too had to give up. 



The finance of the last company that owned the paper 

 had been arranged with the paper-makers who held all 

 the debentures of the company, and used to take pay- 

 ment by monthly accounts, for which they drew at three 

 months, and themselves addressed the bills " To the 

 Proprietors of St Stephen's Review." 



I, as a director, used to accept these bills under a rubber 

 stamp " For the Proprietors of St Stephen's Review." 

 Suddenly I found a demand made on me personally for a 

 large sum in respect of these bills that had not been met, 

 and, to cut a long story short, I was held to be liable on 

 the technical ground that the name of the limited com- 

 pany ought to have appeared above my signature instead 

 of " The Proprietors." I well knew that in dealing with 

 outsiders cheques or other negotiable documents have 

 to show when they are signed for a limited company ; 

 but in this case we were not dealing with outsiders. Tlie 

 paper-makers were the holders of the debentures of the 

 limited company, and, knowing it to be such, addressed 

 their bills to the proprietors of the paper. The rubber 

 stamp under which I signed, as director, conformed 

 exactly to the way in which the drawers addressed the 

 bills, but nevertheless I was held to be personally liable, 

 and there was judgment accordingly. 



Here was trouble indeed, but amid the shade of it came 

 the light of the first steeplechase ever run over the Ling- 

 field course . That was when Colonel North and his partner, 

 Mr Jewell, arranged to have a match between horses of 

 their own, and it was I who fixed that the Lingfield course 

 should be the chosen venue. It was at the end of 1890 

 or the beginning of 1891, and the fences were ready, almost 

 as they are now. The original luncheon-room had been 

 built and the stands were approaching completion. 

 Lethby, who was then steward of the Bellaggio Club 

 House now the Dorman's Park Hotel took on the 

 catering for that day, and Colonel North brought down a 



