HOW MILLIONS ACCUMULATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14853, 2 December 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

HOW MILLIONS ACCUMULATE.

SEVENFOLD INCREASE IN ASTOR PROPERTY IN 63 YEARS. Thirty UHULION" rorN'ins. according to figures gleaned from the New York taxbooks. represent the total value of land' and buildings on Manhattan Island owned by the Astor family. The assessed valuation of the Astor property in New York, which is approximately 60 per cent, of the marketablo value.' amounts to £21,591.860. and of. this immense total. the share of Mr. William Waldorf Astor, who lives in England, represents an assessed value of £10.058,000. Colonel John Jacob Astor. a cousin, pays taxes on £8.240.560, while the estate of his father, the late Mr. William Astor, is assessed at £3,293,300.

According to a list prepared under the supervision of the Tax Commissioner. Mr. Lawsoh S. Purdv. the Astor estate embraces 700 parcels of land in all parts of Manhattan Island. In Fifth Avenue and Broadway the most valuable plots belong to the' Astors. The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is alone assessed at more than £2.600.000. and of this the share of Mr. Waldorf Astor, inn., is computed at £1.070.000.

In the poorer districts of New York the tenants of entire streets pay weekly tribute to the' Astor estate, the coffers of which are enriched by the rents of dozens of the most pretentions apartment houses on the West side.

A fortune of £4,000,000 left 63 years ago by the founder of the Astor fortune has thus increased more than sevenfold in the value of the Manhattan realty holdings alone. The tax-books show instances of plots of land which were purchased by the first John Jacob Astor for £4000, and which have grown to be assessed in 1911 as being of the value of £1.600.000.