FORTUNE SPENT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 225, 17 May 1932, Page 3

FORTUNE SPENT

AUSTRALIAN GIRL MOTHER DEFENDS DAUGHTER'S EXTRAYAGANT LIVING. ! " £12,000 IN THREE YEARS. LONDON, Saturday. "When a man goes through £10,000 in six weeks or months, the performance pass'es almost without remark. "Beeause a girl spends £12,000 in three years going everywhere, and seeing the best of everything, the event is recorded as notorious." Mrs. Anthony, mother of Elaine Margaret, who related before the Registrar in Bankruptcy during the week how she had spent a fortune in three years, is surprised at the fuss that has been made about the ease. Herself extremely youthful in ap-" pearance, with golden hair, poise and charm, and living in a flat at St. James, close to York House, home of the Prince of Wales, she vigorously defended her daughter, in a speoial interview with a "Sunday Sun" representative. "Simply Extravagant." Elaine, a beautiful blonde with a flair for attractive clothes, is staying with friends at an undisclosed address, having left the luxurious serviee flat in the vicinity of the exclusive Ritz, Green Park area, which cost her 15 guineas a week, according to the porter, who reminiscently described spelendid parties, of which she was the hostess. The street, he said, used to be full of rich cars, and many bright you • g people.

"After all," said Mrs. Anthon" uthe money went .purely and simply in extracagant living, induced by the richness of her surroundings, including presentation at Court in 1930, visits to Royal enclosures at Ascot and Goodwood, balls, garden parties, dinners, theatres, and so on. "Naturally all these take a lot of money, necessitating an extensive wardrobe, cars and reciprocal entertainment. "That's all there is to it." No Surprise. It has come as no great surprise to the many Victorian society triends of Miss Anthony that in i.he last three years during which she has oeen living in London and Paris she has gone through a fortune. They affirm also that if Molly's fortune had been 10 times as large she would have spent just that much more lavishly. Elaine is the only daughter of Mr. W. Anthony, of Stawell, (Vic) and Mrs. Anthony, who is in London v/ith her. She was born at Stawell 25 years ago, and very early in her life became a boarder in the Geelong Church of England Girls' Grammar School. Afterwards she went to hcr home in Stawell, and occasionally paid expensive visits to Milbourne for the social season. She had a great desire to travel, but her father was against her going to England until she became of age. When that eventual year arrived in 1928, Elaine inherited between £8000 and £9000 from her grandfather, Mr. W. Simmonds, and with her mother she set off for the great adventure. Soon after arriving in London Miss Anthony was presented at Court, and a little later she made her first visit to Paris. In Zep. A little later Miss Anthony made one of the first three women passengers in the Graf Zeppelin on its first cruise round the British Isles. The Anthony money came originally from the Stawell gold mines, and there is a eonsiderable amount of it left in the family. Grandfather's Fortune. Elaine's grandfather, Mr. W. Simmonds, was at one time a Stawell butcher, and with three of his earlylife companions became interested in the local mines. It was not long before the famous Magdala began paying huge dividends, and the fortunes of the Simmonds family, as well as those of the Anthonys and the Hobbs, were well founded. The three families married and in-ter-married. The menf olk went mostly to the land, and to-day many of them hold some fine properties. The women entered social life, and have been leaders in their own set ever since.