EASY MONEY

Northern Advocate, 14 July 1925, Page 3

EASY MONEY

GENTLEMAN WITH THE DUSTERS

It is not so long ago since a numbet 1 of reputedly shrewd, business men in Dunedin were duped by an individual . who promised considerably more than the regulation percentage in connection with transactions in machinery. Aftci whizzing along satisfactorily for :i little while this "machine-made fortune" scheme broke down, and t.h? fortune-hunters were left lamenting. Somewhere about the same time another "philanthropist" was working Dunedin. This individual's speciality (says the "Star"), was the rather well worn one of taking partners ' into business that he had opened up. It may bo added that the partners were "taken in" in every sense of the word, the modus operandi being as follows:The man, who was a stranger to the city, launched a woollen duster manufacturing business, the dusters being made from sheepskins. Having become established, he advertised for a partner, offering a third share in the business, and giving a guarantee of £5 per week. He had not long to wait for replies to such a tempting offer, and he was soon able to "rope-in" his first victim, who gladly deposited £150 as his share in the lucrative concern. One condition of the partnership wos in the nature of a secret engagement, the new member of the firm was to keep strictly to himself the fact that he was a full-blown partner. The thing was too good to be recklessly talked about. Rather! A little later another "partner" was taken in on exactly the same term.-?, and the two worked together at duster making, each secretly gloating over the fact that he was the other fellow's boss, and that the other fellow didn't know it. Meanwhile, the head and front of the concern was travelling the country, ostensibly in search of orders. " "

j Funds, presumably, got lov? ( . again, so still another carefully-worded advertisement was inserted in the papers, and a third secret partner paid up and joined up. Then, late in June last, a fourth took the bait, and handed in his £150. This, apparently, was regarded by the principal as the safety limit, and his next "business trip" into the country proved to be his last. Inesd, he did not return from it, but considerately wrote one of his "partners" to 'the effect that, the business having proved not so prosperous as he had expected, he had decided to drop out. | "Good luck to you, anyway," was hi* I cordial fareVell message. Meanwhile, j another of ,tHe "partners" regularly .hopefully\met trains from the

C&untry," trat '\tho chief" failed to keep his appQirltment. . , Eventually came ; the secretive four beepme communicative, and, as usual, when things get Into a hopeles3 sort of tangle, the aid of the police was sought. Inquiries were quickly -set on foot, and it transpired that the "Gentleman with the Dusters" had taken in partners in Auckland as well as in Dunedin, and that he had obtained by that means something over £1000 in six months. The police are keen to meet this enterprising visitor; not, of course, with a view to a partnership in the duster business, but in order to have a heart-to-heart talk with him. They hope to run across him at a later date, and have a shrewd suspicion that he has returned to Australia, where he formerly resided.