RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30575, 19 October 1964, Page 24

RANDOM REMINDER

POWER BEHIND THE THRONE

Keeping up with the Joneses is one thing. Keeping up against the currents of financial commitments is another. Most of us, at one time or another, or most of the time, are urgently in need of substantial sums of money. From time to time, the urgency is really critical, and it is time to stop bemoaning the workings of a malignant fate and do something about it. We know of a man so placed who decided to go to an insurance company to raise money on his house. They were frightfully polite and nice about the whole thing, with of course and naturally popping up in the conversation regularly. It all boiled down to the fact that if he owned the house, they were prepared to lend him 70 per cent of its value. He told them he owned the house, and they nodded amicably. He showed them a coloured picture he had taken, and they

admired it greatly. The flowers were really lovely. Rather hesitantly, and as though conscious of a desire to keep intact the cordial air surrounding the whole negotiation, they suggested that just to put the thing on a proper footing and just as a formality they had better send one of their men out to the house to value it What’s more, he would be there next day. Our hero knew well enough that the valuer would be chiefly interests ed in the structure and its size and condition, but he believed firmly in some facets of applied psychology, and he came to the conclusion that to get the full benefit of the loan, it would be wise to make the impression inside the home before the man got his tap and hammer out. So on the way back from the insurance office he called to see a friend who sells lovely antique furniture and pictures and

other works of art. From him, he borrowed a station waggon and with this he took home a large load of beautiful chairs and oil paintings and the like. A couple of hours later his own somewhat flimsy furniture was safely stored out of sight and the place was magnificent. And when the valuer came next day, he must have been impressed by the substance of the householder and his house; sipping sherry, together, they admired the the Van Goghs and Rembrants or their reproductions—and the gorgeous furniture and so forth.

The valuation was a good one and the man happily started to pack up the goods next morning to return to the shop. But he had reckoned without his wife. They have some beautiful furniture now, and some lovely pictures, and they are wondering how they can raise some money to pay for them.