RICHEST MAN IN WORLD

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 99, 21 January 1936, Page 16

RICHEST MAN IN WORLD

Indian Croesus to Visit

London

WILL CHARTER SPECIAL

LINER

Tlie Nizam of Hyderabad, the richest man in the world, is going to London this year. A special liner will be chartered to take him and his retinue to England. ' The Nizam, who is one of the most enlightened Indian rulers, is going to study agricultural and textile machinery. It is the first time a Nizam has visited Britain.

The most fantastic stories in ‘’The Arabian Nights” pale into insignificance beside the true stories of the Nizam’s enormous wealth, says an English newspaper. It is derived from the world-famous gold mines of Goleonda, one of the show places of India. His income is £lOOO a day. In the carefully guarded treasure bouses in his palace are hundreds of bars of gold: pyramids of emeralds, diamonds and rubies lie on the floor. Suites of furniture fashioned from flawless gold bedeck his rooms. He rides in state coaches built of gold, inlaid with priceless gems. In his capital be has more than 10,000 ounces of silver cached in an underground vault. Next to it is a cellar, into which 700 ounces of gold is carried every year. Every year a van, loaded with gold bars, drives into an underground cellar. That gold is never handled when it arrives. The van simply drives in—and there it remains beside the others with their rich cargo. Despite this accumulation of gold, the State does not acknowledge it as currency. This 4<-year-old Indian Croesus' has his owu paper money and his owu stamp issue. The Nizam never travels without a retinue of servants and officials, which numbers more than 300. He rules over 14,000,000 people. His State is more than twice the size of England and Scotland. Yet he lives more carefully than any minor official in his entourage! The Nizam dislikes new motor-cars, parties, or elaborate entertainmentsHe never wastes a penny. He insists that before one of bis suits or a pair of shoes is discarded from his wardrobe he shall first inspect it. If tbe shoes cau bo mended or the clothes cleaned they remain to be worn by him. But the Nizam will head a subscription for any worthy objects with a princely- amount. Ho gave £35,000 toward the building of.a mosque in London. By contrast, at official banquets, he has been known to indicate to his servants to which guests champagne shall bo served —and those to whom white wine only shall be given!

Delhi houses one of his largest palaces, close to the home of the Viceroy. Twenty-one guns boom forth their welcome when he reaches tbe capital. Officers in glittering uniforms and soldiers in brilliant dress uniform await his coming. When he arrives it is more than likely that the Nizam will be wearing a shabby suit! He loves a joke. His State army was drawn up with all the pomp and panoply of the East to greet the purdah lady he wed in 190 G. Words of command rang out as the signal of Ills approach was seen . . . every man

on parade stiffened to attention. And on to the parade ground there coughed and wheezed an ancient and battered motor-car. Inside was the Nizam, grinning broadly.