Monte Carlo.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 11785, 7 October 1901, Page 1

Monte Carlo.

' Monte Carlo's famous gambling establishment has been losing money. The "' man that? broke the bank " has been too frequent of late. Such, at least, is the opinion of a German writer, who has been there to study the situation. " The bank there," he says, "ism a bad way. Roulette and Trent-et-quarante go on as usual. An extraordinary number of persons are winning money. Baron Ephrussi went away from here with winnings amounting to 1,500, 000fr. iv his pocket, and he is so coldblooded and so wealthy — he is Rothschild's son-in-law— that the croupiers have little hopes of getting the money back. The Baron wins always. He may lose for a time, but he keeps on until finally the moment comes — and it always does come — when his colour comes up. In order to win at Monte Carlo one must ha\e a large amount of money — at least 25, 000fr. for every lOOfr. you expect to win, and Baron Ephrussi is well aware of this rule, and can always observe it. Another heavy winner is Baron Carlo di Rudini, the oldest son of the well-known Italian statesman. As his father is worth 200, 000, 000fr., his success is easily explained. It is the little gamblers, who have a capital of 500 or 1000 franca, who lose at Monte Carlo. After one hour's ill-luck their capital is gone. It is from them the bank obtained most of the 25, 125, 000fr., which represent its net profits during tho business year 1900-1901. Large profits they seem to be, but in view of the fact that there was an exposition in Paris during 3 900, and that most of the foreign visitors tried their luck at Monte Carlo, they are really extraordinarily small.

In 1889, during the previous exposition in Paris, the profits of tho bank amounted to 37,000, 000fr. ; yet this year they are only 23,000,000. The Boor War has also hurt business, for it kept away the English, who are, as a rule, the best patrons of the bank. Another cause of the poor business is the unquestionable fact that people are becoming more cautious about playing every year. A proof of this is the fact that the number of suicides has lately decreased. Formerly it was not unusual for a distracted player to kill himself, but now we very seldom hear of such an occurrence.

In short, the outlook for the bank is extremely bad, and if the players continue as cautious as they arc now the dividends of the shareholders will speedily fall to 30 or 35 per cent. During the past business year a dividend of 42 per cent, was declared, but this was very smp.ll as compared with the profits during those years when Blanc still wielded the sceptre in Monte Carlo and coined millions out of nothing. Others, however, besides the bank are now suffering. In former years the French press received from one to two million t francs annually from the bank, but' recently their allowance was cut down to 750, 000fr., and last year .they got only 500,000. On the other hand, the civil list of the Prince of Monaco has been increased from 1,000,000 to 1,750,000 francs, and the Bishop of Monaco^