WEALTHY SHOWMEN.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4251, 13 April 1921, Page 2

WEALTHY SHOWMEN.

Showmen from all parts of Great Britain and Ireland and their wives, sons, and daughters filled the ballroom at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington (reports the "Daily Mail") at the annual meeting of the Showmen's Guild. All were van-dwel-lers (though many have handsome homes to which they, repair at the end of their travels), and all were of the spiritual lineage of Noah, since one speaker declared that "the man who put the animals into the Ark was the ftrst showman,"

A hearty, bronzed crowd, well dressed and displaying much jewellery, they included everybody from the presenters of performing : fleas and fat women to those who think nothing of paying £15,000 for the latest in roundabouts. They represented a capital of £12,000,000Councillor Patrick Collins, oj: Walsall, their president, is the "King of the Show World." He has at least £100,000 in engines and roundabouts.- Indicating one and another of his comrades, he told ■ a "Daily Mail" reporter: "There's over there. He has £40,000. And old > here has £60,000 if a penny. And some have more than that. You never find a showman in the workhouse. If a man' loses a horse in a fair we have a whip round and buy him aYiother. There are at least fifty here who attended our first meeting 31 years ago. Our roundabouts today cost anything from £10,000 to £20,000."

"Fat women" and dwarfs, palmists and a tattooed woman danced- at the Agricultural Hall with more than 600 showmen and show-women. Many of the tomen were beautifully dressed, and had splendid jewels, for the showman thinks nothing of spending £400 on a diamond for his wife, and many invest some of their earnings in this way.