[207] .... The pattern of North-West gas company creation and financing conformed closely to a common set of procedures which, largely as a result of canal investment, were well established by the early nineteenth century. ... It was principally a matter of assembling prominent local businessmen and professional people at a public meeting, and distributing a subscriptio list after explaining the merits of the scheme. These highly informal, localised methods of raising money for provincial joint stock companies proved extremely successful, and even though the contacts were usually forged in coffee houses and taverns, and an attorney acted as the subscription agent, North-West gas undertakings were able to satisfy their constant need for capital by recruiting the support of their fellow-townspeople. ....