How Rich is Mr Kruger.

Manawatu Herald, 10 July 1900, Page 2

How Rich is Mr Kruger.

THE SUBSTANTIAL FORTUNE OOM PAUL WILL RETIREON.

Those who are in the habit of thinking of Mr Kruger as a mere farmer «may be surprised to hear that- he is a millionaire at least once. How many times over that nice round, sum ws^jj accumulated in*liis savings it. is lm->~, possible to say. ' To begin with, he has the handsome salary as President of seven thousand a year, together with a coffee allowance, which is supposed to be bis en* tertaining money, of three hundred a year. Being of a frugal turn of mipd, Mr Kruger has for many years past lived on his coffee money, while out of his Presidential salary and "perqui-. sites "he is-believed to have succeeded ~> in saving about thirty thousand a year. Over^nd above this Me, Kruger has . many indirect sources of income, it, has been shown that he has a.*yery , large interest in the Netherlands , Railway, while he is also directly concerned in the consumption of dyflamite, as well as several other GSmStfing monopolies. Mr Krugpr owns over one hundred farms in different parts of the Trans- • vaal. Some are productive, other* W« ! not: For instance, in the Rnsteufetrrg District many of the best tobaccogrowing farms are his and tbe-fcssees pay him very handsome rents. His gold-mining farms have also brot»£&t him in a goodly amount ; a few he has sold to the hated Uittander capitalist, others he retains, or hopes to retain.

Comparatively recently a farm he had held for some years was floated into a gold-mining company, and. although his name does not appear in the list of shareholders he received almost the whole of the purchase pric%

in cash. It is said that many of the Transvaal President's safest investments have been made in Holland and Germany. He is likewise reported to be a heavy holder of German consols and French rentes. Personally Mr Kruger is not a generous individual, despite his great wealth. At the time of the dreadful dynamite explosion in Johannesburg a few years ago the Uitlander firms subscribed a magnificent total not far short of eighty thousand pounds to alleviate the distress ot the families whose bread-winners were killed. All the victims were either poor Boers, natives, or Chinamen ; literally not one Englishman suffered. Mr Kruger was asked for a subscription, and promised twenty-five pounds. His name was put down- on the subscripiion list for that sum, but, despite continual dunning on the part of the secretary the subscription was never forthcoming.