Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/305

 THE WOKKING OF THE REGULATED COMPANY 241 water, and grew anxious about keeping up its numbers. Under this system it admitted members for such cash payments as it could obtain. In 1619 the rate was confirmed at 100. During the distresses of the civil wars the price fell to 5, and in October, 1647, fifteen new members were admitted for that modest sum. The usual method of admission was by purchase of a share in a voyage. The subscribers to the first voyage were practically the petitioners for the Charter of 1600, and they were included by name in the charter as forming the company, or were afterwards incor- porated into it, " in as large and ample manner," " as if their names had been contained in the patent." The amount of contribution which entitled a subscriber to the freedom of the company (or one " share ") was originally 200. For the second Cape of Good Hope voyage in 1604 the minimum share was fixed at 100. But this arrangement threw undue power into the hands of small holders at meetings of the General Court of proprietors. Of the 205 subscribers to the third voy- age in 1607, a majority of 108 were for sums under 200. The company resolved, therefore, to strengthen the hands of the leading members who had a serious stake in the business, and raised the minimum subscrip- tion to 500 in the fourth voyage of 1608. To induce small capitalists to come forward, however, they were allowed to join their subscriptions under the name of one person who had the right to vote for an aggregate stock of 500. The " share " or amount of capital which thus entitled a subscriber to the full privileges of a