RICHES TO POVERTY

Chronicle (Levin), 13 July 1946, Page 5

RICHES TO POVERTY

Beceived Friday, 9 p.m. NEW YOBK, July 12. Tlte princely families of the Imperial House, inchtding those cf the nmperor's brothers, Princes Yashito Chicihu and Nohuhito Takamau, are redueed hy financial pressure to'sell personal household bclongings — even down to empty whisky bottles, articles of some rarity in Japan which always fetch a stnall but a sure price. Furniture and clothing as weil as st'ich highly-prized family properties as vases, tea sets and silverware, have all gone under the hammer in recent months, from the homes of men who, hefore the war, were among the richest Japanese nobility. Few will have enough left after taxes are paid to support them more than two years. The princely Houses of Takeda and Katashirakawa recently hought agricultural land in Chiba province, hoping to make a living through farming. However, because the new land law is expected 'to limit the holdings of the non-working owners, ' such a living will entail the Princes themselves going into the rice paddies and raising crops by their own hands.