MILLIONS DISAPPEAR

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3178, 14 May 1932, Page 7

MILLIONS DISAPPEAR

LOSSES IN WORLD SLUMP. FAMOUS FORTUNES SHRINK. More than one hundred men in Great Britain who three years ago were millionaires have to-day lost the alight to that title. There were about 490 of them,, worth £1,000,000,000, but in the world slump their fortunes have dropped in value by £800,000,000, and only 385 of them are still millionares. One man reputed a few years ago to be the richest man in Britain, with £40,000,000, is believed to be worth £10,000,000. A famous shipping peer, whose fortune stood at £3,000,000 in 1927, now has £500,000. Another peer, who had £7,000,000, is worth £3,000^000. The losses that millionaires have suffered are strikingly shown in recent wills:— Mr Solly Joel was estimated to possess £12,000,000 in 1925. When he died last May he left £1,000,000. The £4,900,000 left by Mr Bernhard Baron, the tobacco millionaire philanthropist, declined by £1,325,000 owing to the drop in share prices in five months between his death in August, 1929, and January, 1930. An additional £2,269,000 was absorbed by death duties, leaving an estate of £1350,000. In 1928 and 1929 twenty-nine persons died, leaving £1,000,000 or over. Only 25 estates touched the million mark in 1930 and 1931.

Surprising facts about millionaires and their money in the crises were given recently in the London Sunday Express by Mr Ronald Staples, editor of Taxation. “ There are millionaires who did not earn a penny last year,” he said. “ Many others did not receive enough income even to pay their tax ! I know one man who was worth more than £1,000,000 before the world slump. He now has a quarter of that sum.”