MERCHANT AT SIXTEEN
NEW ZEALAND’S YOUNGEST. IN THE COAL BUSINESS. New Zealand’s youngest merchant was discovered by a magistrate in Court at Christchurch last week. Amazement and amusement were expressed by Mr. E. C. Levvey, S.M., when he learned that a youth charged with failing to attend a military parade had said “he could not possibly attend parades in the daytime” because of his “business interests.” The Magistrate: What, do you do, young man? Defendant: I am a coal merchant. “What,” exclaimed Mr. Lovvey. “How old are you?” “Sixteen, sir.” Goodness. You are not a coal merchant at your age—at 16?—Yes, I am, sir. What do you do for capital?—My father helped me at first, but I manage all right now. Do you mean to say you employ horses and carts and things?—No, sir, motor lorries. “Good gracious,” said Mr. Levvey. “Do you keep books and records?” “Oh, yes,” answered the youthful merchant, with a beam of pride.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBTRIB19291112.2.82
Bibliographic details
Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 281, 12 November 1929, Page 9
Word Count
158MERCHANT AT SIXTEEN Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 281, 12 November 1929, Page 9
Using This Item
NZME is the copyright owner for the Hawke's Bay Tribune. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of NZME. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.