The evil practice, now so common in the City, of
procuring business by tipping—that is, bribing the servants of large customers—has received a sharp check from the Government. At the annual meeting of Bell's Asbestos Company, some shareholders, Jews chiefly, to their credit be it spoken, accused the direction of this practice. The chairman, how- ever, defended it, with a certain cynicism, as essential to the trade, and declared that he should not abandon it. He was upheld on a division by a large majority of his shareholders. Mr. Burt asked, therefore, in his place on Tuesday, whether the Admiralty, which buys much asbestos, had seen a report of this meeting, and if so, whether they would take any steps. Lord G. Hamilton replied that he had seen it, and had already ordered that, as the contracts with Bell's Asbestos Company terminated on June 30th, they should be informed that from that date "they would not be on the list of Admiralty contractors." The practice, unhappily, is not peculiar to any Company ; but how honest men can reconcile it to their consciences, we are at a loss to conceive. They urge, we know, that the tip is a benefaction out of their own profits; but it must come out of buyers ultimately; and if it did not, it is still bribery of employes to abuse their trust,— that is, to favour sellers who may neither be the best nor cheapest.
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