DRAMA OF MONEY KING I WHERE DIVORCE IS EASY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1927, Page 25

DRAMA OF MONEY KING I WHERE DIVORCE IS EASY.

. | . ZAHABOFF SELLING OUT. j MERRY MERIDA.

IX ORDER TO HELP THE POOR. A strange drama is beinp; played in a luxurious Monte Carlo hotel room. Sir Basil ZaharotT, the Constantinople slum hoy who has become one of the richest men in Europe, lias completely lost his power of digestion and cannot eat as much food as the poorest beggar in the street. "Just a little caviare on toast," Sir Basil the other day begged the big staff of £20 a day specialists who are trying to prolong his life. " I shall send an aeroplane to Russia to get a fresh supply." But the doctors were adamant. " A slice of dry toast and nothing else," they said. The man whom If. Cleineucean once described as the ''Sixth Great European Power" is said to have drawn up a will in which he leaves his entire fortune to charily and good works. In spite of his condition he confers with his 'lawyers about his charitable, plaiß every day, and there is much curiosity to know what, they arc. ' The general* belief is that lie has a vast scheme for assisting war orphans in the European countries that were engaged in the great conflict. Wealth for Orphans. A few mouths ago Sir Basil—he is a l'Yeucli citizen with a British titlesold all his stocks in European arms and munition factories, and secretly established orphanages from one end of Europe to the other. At Monte Carlo one day he called Mahpoutra, his Hindu secretary, to him and said: " i am going to sell this place." He had bought the controlling interest in Monte. Carlo Casino three years ago, when it was almost bankrupt Under his cllicicnt management the roulette wheels began to spin out the profits again, the net profit for the year ending March 31, 1920, being 80,000,000 francs. He is now said to have ordered one of his secretaries to investigate the conditions OS the families of anyone who has committed suicide owing to losses at the tables. "When that is done, cheques must he sent to thorn, but not under my name," he said.

The rise of 13asil ZaharolT to fame and fortune is the most outstanding romance of modern Europe. Little is known of his early life, save that he was horn in a Constantinople slum in 1552, that lie was an Ottoman Greek named Basil Zaceharia. Later lie drifted to Egypt, but shipped back to Constantinople as a stowaway. He was acting as a guide and interpreter of a VjckcrsMaxim salesman when he helped the a<»ent to get a big order from the Sultan's Government. Then he was sent by the Vickera company as a salesman to Russia. At this point he changed his name to ZaharolT. and proceeded to make good business. He received some enormous orders from the Czar's Government. Marriage Romance. In IS9S Zaharoll' wont to Madrid to sell the Spanish Government arms for the Spanish-American war, and fell violently in love with Marquise de Villa Francia de loa Caballeros, a relation of King Alfonso. She was married, but her husband was in a madhouse. ZaharolT had to wait twenty-five years before the death of her husband allowed him to marry her. He was supremely happy with her, but she died in the winter of 102.), and Sir Basil's decline in health dates from that time.

When the war broke out in ID 14 Sir Basil was the leading arms and munition manufacturer in Europe, and probably in the world. He produced much of the English and French munitions throughout the war.

SMALL I'KKS FOK ALL. A city in Central America, where divorce in the, principal "industry," and where the hotels and lawyers' offices arc crowded and prosperous, owing to the never-ending Hood of divorce-seek-ers from the United States, is described by Dr. Thomas Garni in his new book. "Ancient Cities and Modern Tribes." Dr. Gann is one of the greatest authorities on the mystcrous Maya race, which inhabited Central America some two thousand years ago, with a calendar and a civilisation of their own. The city of easiest divorce is Merida, the capital of Yucatan, and hither (lock all types of Americans seeking freedom from husband or wife. "The fees are small," write. Dr. Gann. "and no cause need he adduced, beyond a wish by either parly to lie freed from their matrimonial chains. Only a short residence in the State by the applicant is necessary. "Specialists." "1 had not been long in Merida when I was approached by a lawyer, who volunteered to assist me in any matrimonial trouble, and later, in the plaza, was introduced to a gentleman who handed me an elaborate professional card, upon which was inscribed, beneath the name of his linn, the following legend: "International Lawyers, Specialists in Yucatan Divorce Law, Facilities in Mexico City and New York City."

"To the Indian, the divorce crowd, men and women, are in drcs.-. and deportment a revelation, but the Maya, tlown-trodden anc exploited though he be, is not without a saving sense of humour. "Wc dined at the best and largest hotel in Merida, and found there a considerable concourse of pretty ladies on divorce proceedings bent. Some of them were accompanied by their prospective partners whom they had already selected for a frcsii matrimonial venture. . . To these poor pilgrims from the United States of America, suffering tinder the restrictions imposed by Messrs. Mann and Volstead. Yucatan must, indeed, appear a little earthly paradise."