EX-TSAR FERDINAND'S PURSE

Taranaki Daily News, 10 November 1920, Page 5

EX-TSAR FERDINAND'S PURSE

lavish expenditure. „ , . Berlin, Sept. 8. ret'u ft'om the cares of royalty and statesmanship, ex-King. Ferdinand of liulgaria, like many other people in Germany who fear the inroads of the taxgatherer, is emjoying his wealth bv spending it. At Mergentheim. which ho is visiting for the sake of the magnesia springs, he leads a jovial and unconcerned existence in striking contrast to the cloistered seclusion of the Imperial recluse' at Amerongen. Under the name of Count von Muranny, says a writer in the Zwoelf-Uhrblatt, lie is residing at the Kurliaus, together with his suite, composed of chaplain, chamberlain, chauffeur, footman, valet, and private secretary. His lavish expenditure has made him popular in the town and surrounding country, where the villagers see in him an emblem of the "good old times," and greet him with cheers as he motors past.

|. The fact that the British Government has released the ex-king's sequestrated property is known to all, and has earned for him the reputation, frequently embarrassing, of being fabulously rich. His chief purchases are books, bronzes, pictures, and jewels. His secretary has a difficult task in keeping off the host of people who want private audiences on business. A chimney-sweep, for instance, has discovered the secret of turning chimpey smoke into high-class boot polish and wants the ex-King to advance liim 3,000 marks for the exploitation of the talisman. Someone else has invented an ever-burning match, and he, too, wants money from the King to convert his theory into practice. A mason wants the ex-King as a partner in his factory of artificial stones—not yet established—and the secretary has much trouble before he can finally make it clear that his royal master has finally retired from business. Other aspirants t,o the ex-King's munificence avoid the economicallyminded .secretary and waylay Ferdinand on his motor excursions. When they hear the well-known hooter they emerge from their hiding-places and endeavour to present their inventions or their wares. A man whose ambition in life was to shake hands with royalty received one day a card ostensibly from the Count von Muranny inviting- him to an audience. Overjoyed, he hurried to the Kurhaus in frock-coat and tall hat. The victim of an unkind hoax did not obtain the longed-for audience, but, instead, four new fifty-mark notes which the ex-King caused to be sent out to, him as consolation money! His experiences in Mergentheim are said to have elicited from the ex-King the mot: "My life here is safe, but I cannot say the saute of my purse." —Renter.