MILONAIRE CLUB COLLAPSE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3333, 9 August 1926, Page 2

MILONAIRE CLUB COLLAPSE.

Further particulars of the collapse of ' (he Floranada Club development plan, | with liabilities of C 1,700,000 and as- , sets of £.500,0(50, show that the scheme | uas based on the effort of the Anierii can society leaders to create a great j international aristocratic resort in j Florida more luxurious than anything else in the world, where especially the British and American aristocracy could 1 mingle amid millionaire pleasure grounds unsurpassed in splendor. Women were most active in backing the project, and included not only Airs E. T. Stotesbury, the millionairess, but also Mrs Hugh Dillman, .who was formerly Airs K. E. Dodge, the widow of the millionaire motorcar manufavturor Airs Stotcsbury’s thirty-year-oM son by her former marriage, Air J. H. ]{. Cromwell, was president of the Ameri-can-British Improvement Association, which tried to develop the Floranada Chib. j Air Cromwell gained public attention | while a. student at the University of j Pennsylvania for refusing to attend i ( course on economics because the lecturer attacked “predatory wealth.” The plans provided for Venetian canals, golf clubs, yacht dubs, paviI lions, hunting lodges, polo fields, tenj nis courts, and casinos, but little of (In’s proposed magnificence yet exists. I The administration building, costing I £Io.(KK), I is complete, and an inn costI ing £3O, (100 is partly finished, it is I understood that the -British supporters j and the American millionaires, while 1 giving some moral support, lacked suf- | (ieient interest, and did not contribute | financially. I 1 1 is estimated that the land has a i paper value of £2,000,000, but is { partly mortgaged. An official seal of j Floranada was prepared showing the I American eagle on one side and the 1 British lion on the other. Two steamers to carry goods to Floranada were chartered, and offices, widely are reported to have cost £20,000 a year, were opened in Miami, and, according io one report, 300 salesmen were employed to sell lots to those desiring to live in such close proximity | vo British and American aristocrats. After this plan failed it was proposed to form an Americau-British Florida Club at Floranada. Two thousand of the wealthiest American and British families were invited to con- | tribute £-100 each, which would have been sufficient to proceed with the original plans, hut the backers were unable to obtain this money, and the voluntary bankruptcy followed. — . ,