RAISING THE WIND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1777, 16 August 1888, Page 4

RAISING THE WIND.

Among the many appeals for money ! the following ingenious scheme should be brought under the notice of the public. Lad"es m this and various other parts of the country are receiving a letter from one of their friends, of which the following is a copy : "It is well known that, from one cause or another, there is universal ' tightness in the Money Market,' and all our free and open churches, dependent entirely on voluntary contributions (like St, -—-) are seriously suffering from the consequences. Often it is the small g'fts of the many, rather than the large offerings of the comparatively few wealthy, that contrive to bring in sufficient supplies. We, therefore, ask you as a wellwisher, to contribute the small suji of 3d to help the following scheme : " Will you make two copies of this letter and upon each put the next highest number to the one at the head of this (same on both) and give or send them to two of your friends, asking them in their turn to do the same without delay? Please return this letter with your 3d to Mrs . Should you decline to help, still send this letter to the above address, ai that is the only way to know where the chain has been broken. Those who receive a letter with No. 20 at the head, will simply return it with 3d to Mis as the sum required will be collected by that time." - We have purposely left out the name of the church and of the lady, who is the wife of the rev.. gentleman in charge of the church, as we wish to avoid all personalities in this matter. But now let us for a moment look at the result of this innocent looking little game. If completely successful, that is, if the two ladies No. 2 write each similar letter to two friends No. 3, and these four ladies No. 3 again write to eight ladies No. 4, and so on; if further, these numbers are continued up to 20, and each lady forwards her 3d, we find the reverend gentleman will have accumulated a nice little | fortune of £13,111 odd. And this without any trouble to himself beyond taking iu the daily letters containing the 3d. We desire to point oat what an enormously powerful machinery such an apparently innocent scheme would be in the bauds of an unscrupulous person. It would enable him to collect in a quiet way an enormous amount of money without any danger of coming into conflict with the law, for having once started the scheme aud set the ball rolling the machinery works by itself \ others and their kind friends do it all for him; he has only to sit still to receive the contributions, and there would be no evidence against him to make him liable as an impostor.—Home Paper.