Morning journal and courier., 1891-01-01

I hnu seventy or one nQnQrcd ana e1E6ty francs per share next May, or about thir- ty-fve per cent. upon the original value,
 and about ten per cent. upon present value.
 The cost of the extensive alterations and the new wing just added has been drawn | from the profits of the last two years. A
 number of these shares are now in the
 market. In view of the increased pros ! perity in trade a boom is being made in
 their favor by many holders who have | bought in recent years. Doubtless they
 think this good opportunity for selling
 out before something happens to depreci-
 ate their value. Naturally the owner. of | such stock is filled with fear continually. The price now being asked for a twenty pound share is sixty-fve pounds, last | week it was sixty pounds, next week they ! say it will be seventy pounds
 The total income annually from the ta- bles is about twenty million francs, or eight hundred thousand pounds. A rou- lette table shows an average daily profit of | from two hundred to two hundred and fif- | ty pounds, though a reckless player put | ting down maximum stakes will often send up the winnings to two thousand | pounds, three thousand pounds, or even more than that. For instance, last season
 I saw a young Enslishman placing six | thousand francs on passe at each end of | the table, making a total stake of four hundred and eighty pounds He did this | six times in succession; each time manque won, making a total loss in about e quar- | ter of an hour of two thousand eight hun dred and eighty pounds. This cleared out his capital until he sent home for more. |" Eight of these roulette tables were in ac- ton throughout the busiest part of last
 season, so that A very good idea may be formed of the daily income.
 Two tables only are now devoted to | trente-et-quarante, as the card game offers | more equal chances and makes compara- lively little profit. Consequently the | number of these tables has in recent years been gradually reduced and replaced by the more profitable roulette. The facili- | ties for patronizing this game will be still | further increased when the two rooms of the new wing are reopened on November 18th next. They are still in the hands of | the decorators.
 The expenses of the administration, however, are enormous The Prince of Mouaco has first claim to one million two hundred and fifty thousand francs, or if | ty thousand pounds per annum, for the | concession to play. But, in addition, the
 society is bound by the contract made by Blanc with the late prince which, as
 above stated, lasts until the year 19l3-to
 bear practically the whole of the expenses of the government of the principaliiy,
 both spiritual and temporal; the bishop
 and clerg- and the religious orders, the
 college and schools, and the law courts are all at the charge of the Casino: equally
 the cost of municipal government-for the
 Monagesques pay neither rates nor taxes the garde d'honneur of the prince, the po-
 lice and the pompiers. In short, the | prince simply supports his private house hold; the bank pays the rest. The society
 also spends large sums yearly in prizes st
 the carnivals, races, regsttas and other fetes at the Riviera resorts. Altogether the debit of the Casino account cannot be ' less than four hundred thousand pounds per annum.
 During the past few years an entire | change has come over the style of conduct | ing the Casino. The society has developed
 a business-hke policy of the most careful | and economizing character. The bounti- full spirit of lorgesse which prompted all | the actions of NJ. Blanc in his Homburg
 and early Monte Carlo administrations has
 been completely stitied, and in its place we | find an amount of parsimoniousness | worthy of the most hard pressed dealer in | secondhand wares. The older rooms are
 shabby. badly ventilated and uncomforta-
 ble; the attention paid to visitors is of the
 most unsatisfactory kind-nowadays you
 are even expected to pay for the cloak
 room-and complaints reach me regularly
 of the way in which the patrons of the ta-
 bles are treated by the employees. The po-
 likeness of old has vanished, the once re-
 speetfIl Oficia,s arc replaced hv q. set of
 low-class lackeys, who accost you imperti-
 nently at the doors and demand in an over
 officious way whether you have an entree.
 The social tone of the rooms-if such 8 Il tNa s., a,sl .r Be
 descending year by year. The theatrical
 representation have deteriorated also.
 The concerts are, in fact, the one consola-
 ton left for the unfortunate player.
 Another change of front is that dis
 played toward the subservient subyen
 toned press. For many years the admin
 istration spent large sums, varying from
 ten to fifteen thousand pounds per an
 mum, in the purchase of silence from ths
 newspapers of this district and the pay
 ment of certain journalists for their policy
 of masterly inactivity regarding the do
 ings of the Casino people. Something
 like hundred newspapers are in the pa! } of the bank, receiving douceurs of iron fifty to five hundred pounds per annum Last year many were placed on the retireR list at half pay, and the present manage ment has shown defiance to ali criticism b, t deciding to postpone indefinitely all neJ } applications for assistance in the journal istic line The sums paid in this way sp [ pear in the accounts of the company 8
 'expenses for publicity" givento the no
 tice with regard to tickets of admission t
 the rooms, but the journals inserting [ are bound by contract to say nothing de rogatory to the Casino in their columns
 The dodge for obtaining money from tn
 bank by the repeated publication of ficti a tious suicides and other exaggerated item f is practically played out; the management know that, and they intend to face the fu @ silade in all fresh attacks upon the Casin s coffers. As a matter of fact, suicides ar I now, happily, very rare. I have heard C
 but one or two throughout the past tw seasons, and it was doubtful whether los F. es at the tables were the direct cause c 0 even these. "Plunging" is almost thin o of the past so scarce a thing that when
 professor of that brainless system" doe v arise he is little else than a lion among hi - compeers. Maximum stakes one seldoI
 sees, and the scenes of wild excitement, s
 often described, are few and far betweer { There are tmoIe players, it is true, an
 they are of a lower class, which is unfol
 tunate, since this is evidence of the sprea : of the gambling spirit among those wh Il can least afford to indulge it.
 :. Much speculation is made regarding th 2 attitude of the new Prince of Monaco t e ward the tables. It was stated when | d ascended the throne of the Grimaldis thi e he desired to close the Casino, that e would refuse to accept the amount whic "a had been paid to his father for the conce V sion, and the like. But he has no powt = to annul the contract made by Primo 70 Charles. And he certainly did not refui e the fifty thousand pounds which the Gas "a no has contributed annually for the Ia ,o thirty years toward the support of u is