Richest Men in the World

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 254, 3 November 1939, Page 3 (Supplement)

Richest Men in the World

f=g®IESIDE him, the Nuf--IPJ fields, Rockefellers, H Woolworths, EllerP IP j mans and Westminsters pale into utter insignificance. Y ; et he has never been outside his native land, and rides about in a twenty-six-year-old car! And the other men and women who between them own the world’s wealth; how do they live, how do they spend their millions, what does money mean to them? Here is the answer. ‘‘lf I were a millionaire,” you say to yourself wistfully, as you conjure up visions of Nice and Monte Carlo, trips to the United States, jaunts in magic Budapest, gay Vienna, Berlin and Paris. . . . It may be some consolation to know that The Richest Man in the World has never set foot outside his native land since he was born, forty-nine years ago. The name of this strange, almost legendary being who sounds as though he might have- stepped out of “The Arabian Nights” is Lieut.-General His Exalted Highness Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan, Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar. \ Beside the overflowing vaults 'and coffers of the Nizam, the ■wealth of the Ellermans, the Rockefellers, the Fords, the Wpdworths, the Wills and the Nufrields pales into utter insignifjfence. ths cas h capital totals some £250,000,000. His jewels are worth £50,000,000. His income is £I,OOO a day, and he owns the famed 277-carat Diamond, which is priceless.

He has thirty palaces and his wealth is ahvays increasing since an old Hyderabad custom makes it necessary for every one of the Nizam’s 15,000,000 subjects, however poor, to hand over a cash gift on his birthday. Cash gifts are al£o the prelude to an audience with the Nizam. The Richest Man in the World, you would imagine, must necessarily live on a scale inconceivable to ordinary mortals. There again you would be in for a rude shock. Some Indian sovereigns are lecherous, champagne-quaffing wastrels with a taste for French women, but decidedly the Nizam is of a different calibre. His State of Hyderabad is about the size of the United Kingdom and by honoured tradition not one of its royal family has ever stepped outside India. So far from living lavishly, the Nizam is said to be very careful with his Pennies. There are stories that he once refused to pay threepence for an ice-credm, rebuking the vendor over its high price, and that he has his worn clothing cut down to fit younger members of his royal family. Though such stories are nonsensical, Sir Osman certainly lives in unpretentious fashion. Lesser Indian potentates simply must be accompanied on ceremonial occasions by scores of elephants, whereas one has always been sufficient for the Nizam. Incredible as it may sound, his newest car is a twenty-six-year-old Rolls Royce, in which he has travelled no more than 500 miles

since he bought it brand iicav in 1911. The only other cars in his garage are two thirty-year-old models. Indifferent to personal comforts, he wears simple clothes, eats only the plainest food and would as soon live in a tent as any of his thirty palaces. As careful in matters of State as he is personally, the Nizam has evolved a system of Three-Year Budgets, which were balanced even during the depression without raising Hyderabad’s taxes. Sir Osman’s system is to have an annual accounting of each Government Department provisionally, but to carry forward to a so-called Grand Accounting only every three years. Much of his time is taken up with projects of State irrigation and soil conservation. He neither rides, shoots nor plays any game. In fact, the Nizam’s sole form of amusement is writing verses in Urdu, a form of Hindustani. Typical example: “If such are the shafts those eyes send forth, Then There is no’hope left for my heart.” Early this year the Nizam celebrated his Silver Jubilee in modest fashion and received from his devoted subjects cash sums totalling £500,000. Compared with the Nizam, the Maharajah of Patiala is povertystricken with only £1,000,000 a year. The Maharajah of Mysore, however, has a collection of jewels, kept in heavily guarded steel vaults and valued at more

than £3,000,000. The Maharajah of Baroda rules over a comparatively small state, but nevertheless gets £6,000,000 a year. Only just behind him is the Maharajah of Kathiawar, with £5,000,000 yearly. * •* _ ,* • ‘ >' < . , An Indian Prince who is worth millions, though he rules over no State, is H.H. the Aga Khan, the Right Hon. Aga Sultan Sir Mahomed Shah, G.C.5.1., G.C.1.E., G.C.V.O. The Aga Khan is spiritual head of millions of Indian and African Moslems, and from these receives tributes which make him one of the world’s wealthiest men. A successful racehorse owner, several times Derby and Oaks winner, the Aga Khan is now President of the League of Nations Assembly and is working for lasting friendship between Berlin and London, by which he believes world peace ivould be assured.

Britain has no millionaire quite so strange as the Nizam of Hyderabad, and certainly not one whose wealth approaches such vast figures. Yet one who may reasonably be compared with the richest man in the world is Sir John Ellerman, a tall, dark, ascetic-look-ing young man of twenty-nine Avlio inherited from his father,

the first Sir John, some £50,000,000, of which the State claimed £25,000,000 in death duties. This strange millionaire likes calling himself “Mr. Fountain” or “Mr. Bond” and edges away nervously when addressed by his own name. At Sunningdale, Berkshire, he has an unpretentious home and an equally simple flat in a North Audley Street block owned by* the Ellerman family. Having inherited nearly half his ship-owning father’s estate, “Mr. Fountain” pays £1,000,000 a year income tax, but receives £500,000 from his properties. lie lives on a mere £2,000 of this sum, and even so is said to have a troubled conscience.

Lady Ellerman, or “Mrs, Fountain,” is the former Esther de Sola, avlio met her husband Avlien he was a Temple student, and herself comes from a rich Jewish family. The Ellermans are seldom seen in public, and Sir John caused general surprise this year by suddenly buying, for £500,000, controlling interest in the socialite Illustrated Newspapers Group (“Sphere,” “Tatler,” “Sketch,” “Illustrated London News,” etc.). These had previously been owned by his father, who sold his interests in 1926.

Bracketed with Sir John in point of wealth are the thrice.married Duke of Westminster, and Lord Nuffield, Britain’s philanthropic car magnate. The Duke, worth approximately £20,000,000, says, “ I am not quite sure of the sum,” and owes his millions to an Elizabethan ancestor who married an heiress to the Belgravia estate, at that time worth four shillings a year. In Cheshire and Flintshire the Duke owns 30,000 acres, and also has 600 acres in London. On one six-acre plot the City of Westminster has rehoused 618 families, who iioav pay the Duke a nominal rent of Is. a year. Each Christmas the children on this and other of the Duke’s estates are treated to a pantomime. Two of the Duke’s chief interests are yachting in his “Cutty Sark,” named after the famous old clipper, and hunting. A few years ago he hunted Avild boar in France Avith Charlie Chaplin. Later he Avas nominally fined £1 in the same country for inadvertently hunting on private ground. Noav married to the former Loelia Ponsonby, the Duke has no issue. His heir is a cousin, Captain Robert Arthur Grosvenor.

(To be Continued.)

. . . THE REIC

I had 12 bottles of v cellar, and my wife told the contents of each anc down the sink. So I pr< as my wife desired, and' cork from the first bottl contents down the sink, v tion of one glass, which ] I extracted the cork frr bottle, and I did likewise ception of one, glass, whi I extracted the cork fi bottle, and emptied the g down the bottle cxccp which I devoured. I pulled the cork froi sink and poured the bol glass, then I drank same I pulled the bottle froi the next and drank one I pulled the sink out of and poured the bottle dov I pulled the next bott throat and poured the c sink, all but one sink, wh I pulled the next cc throat, poured the sink < tic, and drank the cork. Well, I had them all e steadied the house with counted the bottles, whit also counted them whe round again, had 94, and came round I counted th finally bad the houses a counted. I proceeded to wash tl could not get the brush sq turned them inside oi them all with water, and and told my other half v O Boy! I have got tl nice in the world.