MONEY FOR MONARCHS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 172, 7 December 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

MONEY FOR MONARCHS.

HOW SOVEREIGNS MAKE SOVEREIGNS.

Monarehs are not above making money. And perhaps the Kaiser should be given first place among reigning Sovereigns for shrewd commercialism. He makes a strong point of cultivating the friendship of financial magnates, not only in his own, but in other countries as well,

The Kaiser has some very large holdings in the Hamburg-America Steamship Line. He is extensively interested in the diamond mine enterprises of German West Africa. In connection with the vast forests comprised in the Crown domains and on his private estates, he carries on a large lumber business. His horse-breeding establishment in Western Prussia brings him in a handsome revenue. He is the principal stake-holder in the municipal lager-beer brewery at Hanover. And he carries on an extensive manufactory of pottery on his private estates at Cadinen.

GATHERING GOLDEN GRAIN. Gustavius, the present ruler of the Swedes, is a total abstainer. On coming to the throne, he disposed of his late father's extensive brewing interests. But he still retains many other profitable investments. He has money in mills and mines, and he seldom neglects to extol the virtues of the Grand Hotel at Stockholm, in which he is by far the largest shareholder. He is a successful speculative builder. In this way: When property in the slum districts of the Swedish metropolis are going dirt cheap, along comes the King and buys it. And soon on the sites of the dilapidated buildings rise handsome houses / and thoroughfares which increase the value of the property many times over. Few monarehs kave shown themselves cleverer managers of a wife's property than the King of Denmark. By shrewd investments se had already multiplied its value many times. In a large number of his enterprises he is associated with his Royal brother, King George of Greece, who possesses an immense fortune, which he owes in a great measure to undertaking certain operations in American grain about thirty-five years ago, which the closing of Odessa and other Southern Russian seaports to the export of grain, owing to the war with Turkey, rendered extremely profitable.

From the sale of beer, the Prince Regent of Bavaria draws immense sums. In Munich are grim, dirty taverns in which the Royal Court beer has been sold for the last three centuries. You never see a waiter or waitress. You must attend to your own wants, whether you be prince or peasant. Indeed, when the Kaiser visited Munich, he and the Bavarian Princes took their places in line, and awaited their turn for a stone mug, which they themselves rinsed out!

KING GEORGE-FARMER. Oar own King George is another monarch who does not scorn to make money by side lines. From his model farms at Windsor, Balmoral and Sandringham he derives a handsome revenue, and maintains a herd of several hundred superb cattle, which take prizes fit agricultural shows all over the country. His Majesty is also keeping up the late King Edward's horse-breeding establishment at Sandringham, where, in addition to racehorses, he raised hackneys, coach-horses, carriage-horses and hunters. Many of the scions of Europe's reigning houses are in receipt of big sums from inventions for which they have been responsible. The reigning Grand Duke of Oldenburg, for example, has invented a form of propeller wkich most of the German warships and liners use. A collar-stud, which is selling in hundreds of thousands, has been invented by the German Crown Prince. And one of the most up-to-date aeroplanes is the invention of the Grand Duke of He9se. /