EMPIRE’S RICHEST MEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20292, 28 December 1927, Page 14

EMPIRE’S RICHEST MEN.

WHO ARE THEY? THE ELLERMAN MILLIONS. MR S. B. JOEL’S FORTUNE. Who are the richest men in England? And—equally interesting—how did they make their money? In answer to these questions lies a wealth of romance and much that is very human, for millionaires, all said and done, are but men like their poorer neighbours. Perhaps the richest man in England is Mr S. B. Joel, whose fortune is estimated to run to £16,000,000. Can a man accumulate so much wealth honestly? Yes —and no. Ho certainly cannot earn so much in his lifetime ; but he may make as much—a very different thing. Mr S. B. Joel, like several other money kings, has to thank old Mother Earth for his vast riches, for his wealth cam e from tha famous Rand mines. Mr Joel is a nephew of Barney Barnato, once an East End street pedlar, and after, wards the great Rand magnate. Ho took Solly into his business when the latter was a little undersized East End slum boy. Young Joel proved to have a natural talent for finance, and rose In the great mining firm rapidly. Chance, then, put his millions into his pocket; and chance, equally, might have made him a typical East End piecework tailor. This is life. To-day Mr Joel is chairman of the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company, of the Premier Transvaal Diamond Company, of the De Beers Consolidated Mines, and of countless other similar undertakings, not to mention directorates of numerous London concerns sued as the Underground railway. Short, sallow, and insignificant, with a wispy beard and peering shortsighted eyes, Air Joel has assaulted London society with a sword of gold, and has lived to see it capitulate before that al-wavs-successful onslaught. Men with such wealth can afford all sorts of little speculations as amusement. For example, recently Mr Joel financed a clever Italian hotelier in whom he believes to the tune of £150,000 to start the world’s most expensive hotel. It will probably earn for him huge dividends, for ‘‘ to those that hath shall be given ” is very true of the money masters. Another millionaire who probably runs Mr Joel pretty close is Lord Rothermere, brother of the late Lord Northcliffo, whose amazingly rapid slide into oblivion is one of the most remarkable illustrations ol the ephemeral quality of that great newspaperman’s intrinsic value to the country. The Harmsworths were always “ clannish,” and each brother had distinct and brilliant talents. Northcliffo was first and last a journalist, who lived and had his being in newspapers; Rothermere was the business partner, and to his financial genius the great combine of newspapers owes much of its present prosperity. Rothermere spends most_ of his time now at his lovely Cap Martin villa, overlooking the blue waters of the Mediterranean. When he comes to London, as often as not, he is content with a couple of room in an hotel. Bulky and taciturn, he does not loom large in the public eye, has no political ambitions, though his papers reflect his hatred of anything approaching Red in politics. He lost two of his throe sons in the war, and that fact made him a bitter hater of the Germans. Unlike many other bereaved parents, he has never managed to live down that bitterness. GREATEST OWNER OF SHIPS IN THE WORLD. Although Mr Joel has been suggested as England’s richest man, Sir John Ellcrman is at the head of tho class._ Ho is the greatest owner of ships in the world, and from them derives his vast revenues, and his properties aro believed to be worth £30,000,000. Another candidate for the top place would certainly have been the late Lord Iveagh, head ol the brewing firm of Guinness. Lord Iveagh did not make the famous firm of Guinness, but inherited it from his father, Sir Benjamin Guinness. Lord Iveagh 'has just died at nearly 80, hut lie was very active and every year had the honour of being tho King s host at his beautiful place, Elvedcn. Some people have put th e Iveagh fortune at £20,000,000. Brewing has always been a profitable pursuit, and productive of vast fortunes. Another money whose wealth has come from the vats is Lord Woolayington, who was plain Buchanan at the start. Lord Woolavington was born in Canada, of Scottish parents. To-day he, is probably worth £10,000,000. But h 6 has achieved fame in another field also, for he has won the Derby twice. He has one of the most magnificent stables in the country at Lavington Park, and although he is now a semi-invalid, ho races with ardour, and is one of the most familiar of owners. So on to Lord Dewar, whom, one need hardly say, is also in the trade. He is a self-made man who came from Scotland to London to push a particular brand of whisky. He did so with so mucli success that he is to-day a multi-mil lionaire and a peer. And he, too, has other claims on fame. He is the wittiest after-dinner speaker living, and therefore much sought after at public functions. He has written travel books, shot big game, and preserved a wonderful sense of humour. Perhaps because he was once a drunftner ho prefers an hotel when visiting London to tho more intimate comforts of a town mansion. It will be noted si far 'that no superlative wealth owes f.s origin to hand ling essential commodities; diamonds, stout, and. whisky figure prominently. Next comes tobacco. ONCE PENNILESS RUSSIAN PEASANT. Mr Bernard Baron, head of the firm of Carreras, is good for £6,000,000, hut he is working overtime giving it away He is. undoubtedly, the most interesting figure among the millionaires. He came from Russia, penniless, to try his luck in free England. It was a happy idea. Ho became naturalised 20 years ago. Mr Baron lives very simply at Brighton, and if you ask him his hobby he answers, “Giving money away.” He has the added distinction of being a Labour millionaire also, and lie practices what be preaches. He is the best beloved of all employers, and the patron saint of every necessitous hospital. His benefactions top th e £1,000,000 mark to date. He neither races nor aspires to enter society. And !m is a lumpy old man. Perhaps for that reason. Among tho men who have great wealth without having to lift a finger for it, one must mention the Duke of Westminster. lie is probably worth anything from £15,000,000 to £17,000.000. Most of his wealth comes from vast tracts of London property which he inherited. This was once the farm of Uhury, that is. in the days of Queen Elizabeth. it has been making the LTo.svenor family richer and richer every generation. The duke has never contributed anything to public life. He likes sport de luxe, and by equipping an armoured ear section j and charging about Egypt during the war : he got good sport ami a H.S.O. His j yachts are famous, and (he last word in i luxury. Just now he is selling some of ] his great London estates. | But now for a man who made millions I supplying a common need —linoleum. His j name is Lord Ashton. He is probably I worth LYOOn.ilOn. His father found' d i the linoleum ‘inn. which im has < i<■ vr-I.■ j,. d j to its present flourishing si ale. I

Re has liis foibles like olle-r men. am! nlthondi now 8u yeans old. pots up at a railway liofel wlaai lie (Mines To lowa, leaviaa' Ids vast London mansion full ■ servant- navisited. lamd a-'iinn md h : - penraje for bis services to tin- Rlnd'-tone Liberal;;. But Lord ISa'isbury actually

conferred it. When ho did so he explained he was paying a political debt for his predecessor in office. Back to tobacco, and this time the familiar name of Wills. The present head of the great Bristol firm is Sir George. He is a £6,000,000 man. He is very keen on education, and has done much for the new Bristol University. He has given half n million away. Lord Boarsted, who died recently comes into our picture, one of the great Jews who built up from small beginnings a vast industry—oil. The father of the late Lord Boarsted was a very humble importer of sea shells for the ornamentation of those photograph frames and similar bijou articles which were dear to the heart of the Victorians. Hence the name Shell upon the brand of petrol common everywhere —a piece of sentiment of which no man need be ashamed. Lord Boarsted was rich—how rich wo shall know when the tale of his death duties is told by and by. He was certainly worth £8,000,000, perhaps more. SMALL MILLIONAIRES UNDER £1.000,000. Below these few names which head the list of the rich in the British Isles, come a great number of lesser millionaires, men worth from one to five millions sterling. They are too numerous to name. Modern taxation is said to operate against the accumulation of vast tvealth; it is said that the whole race of millionaires is threatened with extinction. This may be. But, despite high taxation and the* rake-off for the treasury which flows in from the super-income tax, it is sate to predict that the human animal known as the millionaire is very tenacious of life, will fight bitterly for his gold to the last ditch, and is always likely to perform the conjuring trick of that fabulous bird the Phoenix, oven when political forces appear to have wiped him out.