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- 94 VICTORIA ILLUSTRATED.
New York Life Insurance Co., and city agent of the London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Co. The business of the firm is general commission, real estate and insurance.
A. W. JONES AND BRIDGMAN.
This firm is composed of A. W. Jones, originally from the North of England, and a resident of Victoria for seventeen years, and A. J. W. Bridgman, late of Kent, England, who has been here for the past four years. Mr. Jones, who is the District Paymaster for the Canadian Militia and Battery forces throughout the Province of British Columbia and a prominent director of the Jubilee Hospital, has been engaged in the real estate business for the past twelve .years. Mr. Bridgman, who joined the firm one year ago, is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England. His experience is a valuable addition in the placing of financial loans, which is a specialty of the firm, and in which they do a large business, not only for residents of Victoria but for friends abroad. The firm do a general real estate and financial business, investing large sums of money for English clients, and a large life insurance and fire insurance business as well. They represent the Canada Life Assurance Co., of Hamilton, and the Caledonian Insurance Co., of Edinburgh, Scotland, and are agents for a number of wealthy local property owners of Victoria.
A. W. MORE AND COMPANY.
Mr. A. W. More came to British Columbia in the beginning of 1888. He is a native of Scotland, where he was in the employment of the Clydesdale Bank, Glasgow, and held positions in several of their branches. From Glasgow he was called up to London, where he entered into the service of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China. He remained in their service until January, 1888, when he received an appointment in the Bank of British Columbia to proceed to their branch in Victoria, B. C. Mr. More served several years in the Victoria office of the Bank of British Columbia, and was promoted to the management of their Nanaimo branch, from which position he resigned a year ago to enter into business for himself. This firm commenced business in the beginning of January, 1891, as real estate, insurance, exchange and mortgage brokers. Special attention is given to investing money for non-residents, either in business property or on first mortgages at the usual rate of eight per cent. interest. This firm is a thoroughly reliable one, and Mr. More is as honorable and trustworthy a Scotsman as will be found in British Columbia. Their premises in the Turner building, on Douglas street, are fitted up in a manner which reflects great credit upon Mr. More's good taste and thorough knowledge of the requirements of his business, which has been very successful from the outset.
J. J. AUSTIN.
The subject of this sketch was born in London, England ; came to Victoria in 1862, and for three years was engaged in mining prospecting on the Mainland and at Cariboo, until he engaged his services with the Bank of British Columbia in 1865. For over seventeen years?from 1866 ?Mr. Austin has been in the government employ. During the years '66 and '67 he was Deputy Sheriff of Victoria. He was subsequently employed in the Treasury ; later, in the Lands and Works Department, afterwards becoming Acting Auditor for the Province of British Columbia. In 1883 he resigned his position to enter real estate, in which he has since been engaged. In addition to his real estate business he represents, as General Agent, the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Company. Mr. Austin has a natural taste for music and. the drama, and has been very useful to the many infantile institutions of Victoria, which were obliged to receive their subscriptions from popular benefits. He organized a company for the erection of the Victoria Opera House in 1885, for which institution he has since been the Secretary and Treasurer. He is also Secretary of the St. George and Pioneer Societies.
HENRY F. HEISTERMAN.
The subject of this sketch was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1832 ; received his business education in Bremen, and subsequently was engaged in business for three years at Danzig, and afterwards five years in the commission business at Liverpool. At this time he went into business for himself, continuing for three years before coming to this country in 1862. He came around the Horn direct to San Francisco, and from there, in company with R. P. Rithet and others, took the steamer " Sierra Nevada" for Victoria. The same year he went up the Stickeen river in a canoe, but was upset and had to return. At Victoria he started a reading-room in connection with the Chamber of Commerce, which latter put up the present building occupied by the Delmonico. Six months later he sold out, and carried on a paint and oil business for John Banks, and in 1864 went into the real estate business, which he has followed to the present date. Probably no real estate man in Victoria has more absolute confidence from the outside world than Mr. Heisterman, proof of which can be gathered from the fact that immense sums of money are being loaned every month through the firm of Heisterman & Co., which includes, besides himself, Geo. W. Haynes and Foster Macgurn. In insurance, they are general agents for the Mutual Life Assurance Company of New York, Phenix Fire Insurance Company of Brooklyn, Underwriting and Agency Association (Limited) of London, Firemen's Fund of San Francisco, Western
Assurance Company of Toronto. The firm do a general real estate and financial brokerage business, including life, fire and marine insurance, and manage estates for people both at home and abroad.
MR. JOSHUA DAVIES.
This gentleman was born in Australia, having first seen the light of day there on the 24th of March, 1846. When three years old he was taken by his parents to California, where he received his education at the Union Public and High Schools of San Francisco. After this he studied book-keeping, and graduated under A. G. Beck, the celebrated expert accountant of San Francisco. The family moved to Victoria in 1863, where the father and son engaged in the auction business under the firm name of J. P. Davies & Co., and at this time Joshua Davies was book-keeper for his father. He, however, became a partner in the house in 1867. When they first started in business in Victoria their were five auction houses besides their own, but business was so terribly depressed about the year 1864 that the others disappeared, and in the course of four or five years, from a variety of causes, the firm of J. P. Davies & Co. stood alone. At this time the population was de-creasing, trade was stagnant, and so continued until confederation. Mr. Davies states that lots that are now worth $5,000 then went begging at $37.50. Times, however, improved, and the firm began to import largely from California, and had a resident buyer in that state during the years 1877, '78 and '79. In 1879 the senior member of the house died, and the business has ever since been carried on in the same firm name, but solely in the interests of Joshua Davies, who, however, then ceased to handle merchandise on his own account, and has since strictly pursued this policy. As a business man, Mr. Davies is possessed of remarkably keen perception, and is very quick in deciding a question. As an auctioneer, he has the best record in British Columbia, having held the longest catalogues and largest monetary sales of merchandise ever made in the province. In this connection we instance the Turner, Beeton & Tunstall retail stock and the estate of Grancini, both of which were sold by Mr. Davies. At the latter sale, which occupied two days and consisted of 2,000 lots, each day Mr. Davies was selling the 600th lot at the end of the fourth hour. On one occasion, however, he made a sale of 175 lots in 45 minutes. Since 1877 he has paid considerable attention to real estate, having bought large amounts for himself and friends, and he has yet to make his first failure in this direction. He is directly or indirectly connected with many large real estate transactions throughout British Columbia and the State of Washington. The city of Sumas owes its inception to him, he having bought and engineered the original townsite. He is also largely interested at Port Crescent, and has been one of its staunchest advocates, maintaining that, having regard to its general location, tributary re-sources and harbor facilities, it is equaled by no other American city on the Straits of Juan de Fuca in its perfect adaptability for connection with Victoria by railway, and he has backed this opinion by large investment. His views are that, if Victoria wishes to maintain her commercial supremacy, she must have direct railway communication with the American system of railways, and that the Northern Pacific is the company with which such connection should besought on account of its being already the possessor of the greatest mileage and of the largest tracts of land in Washington, and also as having in the past shown itself so faithful an ally of the city of Victoria as against the apathy of other railway corporations. Mr. Davies has conducted large sales for the Government and the Hudson's Bay Company ; and, while his marked success must be attributed to his own personal qualities, his intimate knowledge of real estate values and his sound judgment in the manipulation of property, he has known how to avail himself of the aid afforded by judicious and thorough advertising. He is managing director of the Nelson City Land and Improvement Company and the Davies-Sayward Sawmill Company, the latter being the largest land and mill company of the Kootenay district. The holdings of these companies in this section will be immensely profitable if the Kootenay mines only realize one half the expectations. Mr. Davies has done much to establish the good relations existing between the Victorians and the Kootenay people, always impressing upon the former the immense value of the trade which that district must develop. For eight years Mr. Davies was director of the Royal Hospital and its president last year. He is president of the Provincial Royal Jubilee Hospital, and has taken much interest in it. He is a member of the Odd Fellow and Masonic orders, and of the Pioneer and British Columbia Benevolent Societies. To the Odd Fellows he has devoted much time and energy, having twice been Grand Master, and during the two years he filled the office he succeeded in making that institution the strongest and wealthiest in the province. Mr. Davies has been interested in a number of other lines of business, prominently among which is Kurtz's cigar factory ; but since his advent in Victoria he has never taken any part whatever in politics.
ALEXANDER ROLAND MILNE.
Mr. Milne, who is the Collector of Customs, was born in Murray shire, Scotland, in 1842, emigrating to Ontario in his boyhood and remaining there until 1863, when he started for the Pacific coast via Panama, and arrived in Victoria in 1864. He was attracted by the Cariboo excitement, and at once left for there, and was for some years engaged with Buie Bros., until his return in 1874 to Victoria. At this time he entered the service of the Customs as a junior clerk. At that
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