GREAT RICHES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 315, 31 August 1932, Page 7

GREAT RICHES

how a cabin boy rose to be millionaire ship-owner SIR WALTER RUNCIMAN "Take advantage of your adversities," is the message given to the youth of Britain by Sir Walter Runciman, the millionaire shipowner and father of Mr. Walter Runciman, the president of the Board of Trade, who lately celebrated his 85th birthday. "I believe," Sir Walter said in an interview, "that if the young men will follow my own plan of life, which is to take advantage of one's adversities, they will gain a great deal of experience and knowledge that will be more than they can find in successes. My own adversities have been of great advantage to me. Through them I have learned the art of avoiding difficulties and initiating sucC6SS6S#*' Despite his age Sir Walter is in excellent health. "I am perfectly fit and full of go," he ^ said, "though I cannot run up the rigging as I used to when I was a boy. I am carrying on, and I do not do the amount of work I used to. I have a fine team coming on behind me." There was a quiet party of old friends aboard Sir Walter s yacht Sunbeam to celebrate his anniversary. Running away to sea when he was twelve Sir Walter started work as a cabin boy on an old "windjammer." He has worked in every kind of ship from sailing craft to the turbinedriven liner. Sir Walter was married at twentyone, and when he celebrated his diamond wedding he said: "When you have made a suitahle selection and are confident you are going to be associated with a partner who looks at life in common with yourself an early marriage is desirable."