=Williams, Herbert Hale=, head of the firm of H. H. Williams & Co., Toronto, Ont. The name of H. H. Williams is a familiar one in the Canadian real estate field. For many years now his firm, that of H. H. Williams & Co., with headquarters in Toronto, Canada, has occupied a prominent place among the old-established and conservative real estate businesses of the Dominion. Mr. Williams himself, who is the active head of the firm, is a native of Toronto. Born on September 21, 1862, he received his education in the local public schools and the Toronto Grammar School. For a short time after matriculating from the latter institution, he studied law in the office of George Morphy, but presently relinquished the idea of becoming a lawyer in favor of following a mercantile career. His first employment was obtained in the office of Taylor Bros., paper manufacturers, Toronto, where for two years he filled the position of book-keeper. Then he turned his attention to the lumber business, in the prosecution of which he met with much success. He succeeded in developing an extensive connection with the railroads of the country, furnishing them with the timber and manufactured lumber needed in construction and also built up a considerable export trade to the United States in clear lumber. In 1886 Mr. Williams withdrew from the lumber business and entered the real estate field. He founded the firm of H. H. Williams & Co. and began those operations which have subsequently established his reputation as a sane, far-sighted and reliable dealer. To give some idea of the extent and importance of the undertakings which Mr. Williams has handled during the past few years in Toronto, mention might be made of the following large transactions, all of which were carried through in their entirety by the firm of H. H. Williams & Co.: The purchase for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company of the right-of-way along the Esplanade; the purchase, also for the C.P.R., of the old Government House property on King Street, together with three blocks of land extending from Simcoe Street to Spadina Avenue, south of King Street, in connection with the establishment of freight terminals; the purchase of the two blocks bounded by Yonge, Carlton, Church and Alexander Streets, which with subsidiary properties involved an investment of over five million dollars; the purchase, on behalf of the Dominion Government, of properties required for a new general post office, a new railway postal station and an enlarged customs house; and the purchase of the two blocks bounded by Yonge, College, Teraulay and Hayter Streets, comprising nine acres of land in the very heart of Toronto and forming one of the most important retail locations in the city.