GETTING RID OF MONEY.

Southland Times, Issue 17004, 30 March 1912, Page 8

GETTING RID OF MONEY.

IOCTBAOBDnSrABX SPSNOTTHRirTS. In the annals of the Bankrnptcy Court in ay be found details of some' ext uni dlnarlly rapid methods by ''lnch hi o fortunes have been dissipated A gentleman tv ho came in loi < tune of half a million sterling \vh-n h>_ was twenty-live went bankrupt tor £IOOO, with assets ml. ten jcat.s hit.. . and died afterwards m I’ans in fiita P °lUs method of getting rid Of money was that of financing small revolutions in different parts ot the oi id. He financed a revolution m Brazil which never came off; this ventuio ian awaj With £50.000. A small revolution in Peru cost him £25.000; but in connection with a bigger one in the Argentine lie lost close upon £200,000. The eldest son of a peer was in the Bankruptcy Court six after he hml inherited a fortune of £.00,000 be queathed to him by an aunt. His Lordship had a peculiar and expensive hobby, which consisted in buying hotels. "When he stayed at an hotel .that he particularly liked, he would buy It, put in a manager, and have it run on his own lines, usually with the result that the hotel lost most of Us customers In a short time. , T . „ He purchased hotels in Pans, m Jsice, In Berlin, anil in many parts of the United States. His biggest loss was over an hotel ho purchased in Chicago. He paid £BO,OOO for the house as a going concern, and sold it twelve months later lor £IO.OOO. At one time he owned n ° fewer than, thirty hotels in different parts of the world. Altogether, he lost £270,000 in six years }»y. these ventures. Another remarkable method of getting Tid.of money was adopted by the son of a wealthy Lancashire manufacturer, v Who at his fathers death, inherited a fortune Of £150,001), and was in the Bankruptcy Court eight years after. Among the various extravagances lie Indulged in was that of continually ordering special trains. He must have been a perfect gold mine to the railway companies. All told, he spent in eight ; years half his fortune on “specials.” One ,Of his journeys, from Pans to {Marseilles, cost him £2OOO. The “special” consisted Of two specially-fitted saloon carriages for himself and his friends, a car, with a large alley.