KAISER’S LONDON GOLD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1985, 3 June 1919, Page 1

KAISER’S LONDON GOLD.

“SPIRITED” TO HOLLAND. The Haagsehe Post publishes a curious story (reports the Amsterdam correspondent of the Daily Express) about the ex-Kaiser’s gold hoards in Dutch banks, -which the newspaper values at £1,000,000. The ex-Austrian Emperor is said to have deposited in Dutch banks something like £25,000,000 to £30,000,000 for a “rainy day.” The Haagsehe Post adds“ This money has been in Holland ever since July, 1914, which, by the way, is another proof that the Kaiser knew war was coming in August. It was brought here from London at the Kaiser’s urgent request, another proof of Germany’s designs against England, for had England remained unprovoked and neutral the Kaiser’s money would have been safer in London than in Amsterdam.

“In July, 1914, the Kaiser sent his brother-in-law, the late Prince Adolf of Scliaumburg-Lippe, to London, incognito, on a secret mission. The Prince was to carry out the transfer of the Kaiser’s money, which hud laid long' in London banks, to Amsterdam. The Prince , achieved the mission without arous- ; ing suspicion, and remained another live weeks in Holland investing the capital with the advice of the great German bankers in Amsterdam, Messrs Erdmann and Sethey. The latter, as if pursued by nemesis, were the subjects of a sensational bankruptcy last year.” According to the Haagschc Post, (ho only reason why the Kaiser systematically resisted all attempts on the part of the General Staff to effect an invasion of Holland at the same time as Belgium was his fear for his own money. The newspaper contributor, who claims to be well informed, says : —“The Kaiser knew that if he won the war everything would be all right in the end, but if lie lost it would bo a choice between th“ ‘■•■•affohl and flight. He knew he would choose flight, therefore he

wanted to have a good amount of cash at hand.’ If, by any liuke, the Kaiser's money had been invested elsewhere, say, in Switzerland or Scandinavia, Holland would certainly have shared the lot of Belgium.”