A MINGLED CHIME
35. A UNIVERSAL PROBLEM
後半
403
All of which brings me to the point where I propose to throw a ray of truth upon certain private affairs of mine which have received a good deal of notice in the Press of most countries and about which I have preferred to remain silent during twenty years and more. Everywhere I have found the impression that I inherited from my father a large fortune, the greater part of which I have spent on artistic enterprises, and that generally I am thriftless, prodigal, and without understanding of money. One part of this opinion at least is as far removed from the truth as anything can be. It may be that I have expended very large sums on music and other artistic ventures, but not out of my inheritance, for the simple reason that I was powerless to touch the capital of it. How has this misconception come about? Mainly through the indefinite character of much of our legal system and the casual methods of reporting in the Press, as will be seen hereafter.
こうしたことが重なり、多くの国々で各紙が大いに注目し、沈黙しようと20年以上も思った、個人的な様々なことについて、明らかにしようと申し出ているのだ。どこでも、私が父から莫大な財産を相続して、その大半を音楽活動の事業につぎ込み、それも惜しみなく湯水の如く、お金とは何たるかを理解せずにいる、という印象があるようだ。そのうちの少なくとも1つは、事実とかけ離れている。まあ、そういうことは何事についても言えるだろう。私が遺産の大半を、音楽や関連事業につぎ込んできているとのことだが、それは遺産からではない。理由は簡単。私にはそれに手を付ける権限がないのだ。だいたいどこから、こんな誤解が生まれたのか？本書でこの先述べるように、どうせ我が国の法体制の大部分が持つ謎な部分であるとか、報道各位の無頓着な伝え方が原因だろう。
404
My father’s executors, having completed the preliminary examination of his affairs, called me into consultation. The disposition of his estate was simple enough in outline, his Lancashire business being left almost wholly to my brother and myself and the residue mainly to four of my sisters. But upon the whole property lay the burden of the Covent Garden contract, on which two million pounds were still owing. There was no earthly chance of finding this sum out of the assets at our disposal, for even if the business could be sold in war time, which was highly doubtful, it would not bring in enough to discharge the obligation. Although its yearly profits were considerable, its capital value was moderate, consisting mostly of good will, with few tangible possessions such as land and buildings to back it up. A larger portion of the residue than expected would have to go in paying debts and overdrafts, and it looked as if my sisters’ share would be considerably below anticipation. It would help the situation, argued the executors’ advisers, for the whole estate to be in the hands of my brother and myself alone, and if we would purchase the residuary part of it, we should be left in undivided control and in a better position to deal with Covent Garden.
父の遺言執行人から、父が関連することの事前検証が済んだので、相談したいと、私に呼び出しがかかった。不動産については、概要は単純。ランカシャーでの事業は、ほぼ全て弟と私とで引き継がれ、残余は妹達の按分となる。だが全資産には、コヴェント・ガーデンの契約に関わる負債もついてくる。こちらは、200万ポンドが未払いだ。我々が自由になる範囲では、どうにもならない額だ。というのも、このビジネスに買い手がつくとしても、それも相当不透明だが、負債の返済には十分ではない。年利は相当なものだが、資本価値は並で、大半は営業権や信用であり、土地や建物といった有形の所有財産が殆どない。予想以上に残余の大半を、負債と当座貸越高への支払いに回さざるを得ない。妹達への按分が、極端に目減りしてしまいそうだった。これが、執行人の相談役達と協議の上、弟と私だけの分の不動産全体の、状況好転への助けとなった。按分の部分を私達が購入することで、コヴェント・ガーデンの取引に関しては、私達は分割されない状態で、立ち位置も優位な方向へなる。
405
James White was well on the side of such a transaction, being just as anxious as the executors to get the estate out of their hands and into ours; and as he was quite confident that we could find the money to carry it through, my brother and I entered into a contract under which we undertook to pay for the residue about twice as much as it eventually proved to be worth, and sat down to observe the operations of the financial wizard.
ジェームス・ホワイトは、執行人等と同様に、当局の手から不動産を受け取り、私達へもたらせるか、気が気でないという、そんな取引状況を抱えていた。そのための資金を、私達が調達できる自信を、ジェームス・ホワイトは持っていた。弟と私は、按分の部分を本来価値（と後に判明する）の倍額支払を引き受ける契約に乗り出した。あとは、この資産運用の魔術師の、魔法の杖がどう威力を発揮するか、お手並み拝見である。
406
My father, in full anticipation of many more years of life as well as the imminent settlement of the Estate problem, had only a few weeks before his death made a fresh will, and if he had survived a year or two longer its terms would have presented no difficulty to his successors. But having been drawn with an eye to the big deal which was awaiting early completion his unexpected death made it almost unadministrable, so interwoven and complicated were the numerous interests therein, great and small. The portion of the business bequeathed to me was left in trust, which proved to be a constant stumbling block in the path of White's schemes for handling the estate in the broad, bold fashion with which he was familiar; and as the months went by it became increasingly evident that here was a problem beyond his capacity to solve. He could raise the money neither to complete the residuary estate contract, nor to finance Covent Garden, and he was not helped by the war situation, which had deteriorated rather than improved. Air raids had been more frequent, the U-boat menace was the constant nightmare of the Government, and the public was beginning to realize that it was involved no longer in a chivalrous crusade but a war of life and death. Official restrictions continued to remain unrelaxed, the City was unresponsive, financial wizardry had bitten off more than it could chew, and its magic wand was waving in vain. We had no alternative but to go to the executors and confess our impotence. If only the war would stop and the wicked Germans admit defeat, all might be well: the wheels of company flotation now at a standstill would revolve again merrily and we would all live happily ever afterwards. The executors sympathized with these pious hopes for the future but were naturally more interested in the present. They had a contract with us for a very large sum of money and where was it? The only answer to this question was, nowhere, and there appeared small chance of an improvement in our unlucky position.
父は、自分の寿命をもっと長く見積もり、今回の不動産問題の処理も自身を持っていたのであろうが、あと数週間というところで急逝し、新たな状況が発生してしまった。せめてあと1,2年生きていてくれたら、本件は難なく後継者らへと受け継がれたはずだった。だが、早期完了が期待された大きな取引に目を奪われ、彼の急逝が状況をコントロールできなくしてしまった。諸条件が入り組み、複雑極まりないのが、大小様々な利害関係者達である。私に遺贈されたビジネスは、信託財産とされる。後にこれが、ジェームス・ホワイトならではの、大規模かつ大胆な不動産取引戦略遂行上の、障害となり続けることになった。そして数ヶ月経過の後、彼の能力では対応しきれない問題が明らかになってくる。残余分の不動産契約、コヴェント・ガーデン関連への投資、このいずれにも対応する資金調達が出来ないのだ。戦時下にあったことも、彼に利することはなく、むしろ瓦解の要素となった。空襲が日に日に回数が増え、Uボートの脅威は、政府にとっては、覚めぬ悪夢であり続け、国民は皆、この戦争はもはや、解放のための十字軍的なものでもなんでも無い、自分達が生きるか死ぬかの問題だということを、自覚し恥得ていた。政府による制限は緩和されない状況が続き、市当局は関心を示さない。投資の魔術師の手に余り、魔法の杖も空振りである。戦争状態が止み、悪漢ドイツが負けを認めれば、全て上手くいくはずである。現在行き詰まっている資金調達の車輪も、威勢よく再駆動し、「それからは幸せに暮らしましたとさ」、となるはずである。そんな「未来」への希望の思い込みを、執行人等は理解したものの、彼らの興味関心は、当然「現在」にある。彼らにしてみれば、私達との契約には、巨額の金が伴っている。それはどこにある？「無い！」としか答えられぬ。私達の不運な状況では、好転の兆しなどない。
407
There happened to be in Liverpool at that time an accountant with a talent for figures nearly akin to genius. He had been called in by the executors on taking over their duties, had advised them throughout, had been half anticipating the present impasse, and now produced overnight a scheme for the reconciliation of the conflicting interests in the estate and the unraveling of the Covent Garden tangle. It was necessary, however, in view of the numerous trust shares in the will and ihe ambiguous position of the executors, for the estate to be administered under an order of the Court of Chancery; and the essentials of the scheme were that a large sum be borrowed from the bank to reduce the unpaid balance of the Covent Garden purchase money, that the property be nursed over a period of years, that my brother and I agree to accept a much reduced income from the business and that the balance of such income be accumulated to pay off the bank and ultimately the residuary contract.
偶然にも、数字のことなら天才的とされる会計士が1人、当時リヴァプールにいた。その会計士を、執行人達は本件を引き継いでもらうとして、召喚した。会計士は全体的な助言を行い、行き詰まっている現状を予め予想はしていたという。会計士は一夜にして、当該不動産について利害が衝突する関係各位の、取引明細や残高の照合や、コヴェント・ガーデンの縺れた案件を、一旦白紙に戻すスキームを作り上げた。だが、遺言にある膨大な信託参加や、執行人達の曖昧な立ち位置を鑑みるに、当該不動産は多国間の案件を扱う調停機関の管理下に置くことが必要である。そしてこのスキームには非常に重要な点がいくつかある。銀行から大きな借り入れをして、コヴェント・ガーデン買収金額の内、未払い残高を減らすこと。買収後は相当年数かけて養生すること。弟も私も、ビジネスの大幅減収を甘受すること。その収益を貯蓄し、銀行への返済と、最終的には残余に関する契約に当てること。以上である。
408
When the suggestion of Chancery was first made, my thoughts reverted to a disclosure which my father had made to me during that summer of 1916 in Lancashire. An old friend of his and a man of great ability had died leaving a will which he had innocently imagined to be crystal-clear and fool proof. It had proved to be so difficult of interpretation that his estate had to be thrown into Chancery, and there it remained for over five years. While deploring this disaster my father had been a little critical of the carelessness of its author and declared with a certain complacency that, profiting by this experience, he had caused a will to be drawn up which could give under no circumstances the slightest trouble to those appointed to carry out its provisions. I was filled with disquiet and foreboding at the prospect before us, but there appeared no other way out. The vendors of Covent Garden were getting restless and something had to be done about it. So off to the Court we went and obtained an order of administration which took six full years and more to mn its appointed course.
調停機関からのこの提案に、まず私の思いは、1916年夏にランカシャーで父が私に、今回の件を打ち明けたときのことに、舞い戻った。父は、とある有能な友人の1人が、亡くなる際に遺した意思について、至極明瞭で成功確実と、無邪気にも思いを巡らせた。自分の不動産が調停機関に持ってゆかれ、5年以上も管理下に置かれることになるなど、説明するのも困難すぎた。父はこの惨状を遺憾とし、発案者の用心不足にやや批判的となり、ある種の独りよがりさでもって、この経験から糧は得たとして、準備／対策を施せと指示された者達に、いかなる場合も一切迷惑をかけないという、撤退の意思を引き起こしたはずだった。私は自分達の将来に、不安と悪い予感で心が一杯になる。だが逃げ道はない。コヴェント・ガーデンの売主の方が、だんだん焦燥感をだしてきて、何か手を講じねばならない。私達は調停機関へ出向き、まる六年以上かけて指定された通りにするという、指示を得た。
409
This critical step brought me up sharply against an unpleasant reality. My father during his lifetime had stood solidly behind my numerous enterprises, sometimes shouldering a part of the burden himself, at others loaning me amounts which would be debited to my eventual share in the estate. At his death therefore I had several overdrafts which could have been discharged or
reduced without difficulty had I been receiving all the dividends due to me from the St. Helens business under normal conditions, but not with a materially reduced income. Undoubtedly the wise thing from the prudential point of view would have been to part company with those organizations which I had been assisting to keep alive since the outbreak of war, or at all events to cut down substantially my contribution to their support; but I shrank from the immediate application of the axe of economy to the root of my problem. Hundreds of worthy people were for the moment dependent on the continuance of my efforts; I had created the finest native opera company ever seen in England, my audiences were increasing over all the Kingdom, and although my outlay was heavy, I was hopeful that after a while it would diminish. Only in the last extremity did I feel like throwing up the sponge, for after all the war might end before long and the situation change for the better. I therefore threw caution out of the window and determined to go on as long as it was within my power.
この危機的な段取りのおかげで、私は不快な現実の1つに対し、きちんと向き合うこととなった。父は生前、私が膨大な事業に取り組んでいるのについて、しっかりとその後ろ盾を果たしていた。時には私の負債を自身で背負ったり、他には私に貸し付けて、その負債を、最終的には私の不動産となるものに付けた。それ故、彼の死去に際し、私は当座貸越をいくつか行った。これにより負担が無くなるか、減るはずだった。普通だったらなんとも無い状況であるはずの、実際には手の施しようのない事業から、私にもたらされるはずの配当全てを、受け取っていたら、と悔やまれる。実際には目に見えて目減りした収益しか無かった。顧問としての見地から、この賢明なる判断により、私は、第1次世界大戦勃発以降、活動維持を支えてきた各団体との関係を断ち切るか、いずれにせよ、大幅に支援をカットせねばならない。だが私の抱える問題について、即座に大鉈を振るうことについては、怯んでしまう。非常に多くの有能なる人々が、目下私の資金繰りに依存している。私は英国史上最高の歌劇団を設立したのだ。観客数は全土で増加している。再出はかなり重荷となっているが、いずれは目減りする希望を持っている。事、ついにここに至りて、遅からずの終戦と状況の回復を期して、私は撤退した方が良いとの判断をくだす。手遅れにならないうちに、と意を決し、私は後先を考えずに行動に移すこととなる。
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq8zqhqjUIo
ビーチャムが情熱を傾けたコヴェント・ガーデンの公式動画サイトより、ジョビー・タルボット作曲のバレエ「不思議の国のアリス」から、愉快で華やかなパーティーの場面です。
2018/08/31
Alice (Lauren Cuthbertson) stumbles upon the Mad Hatter (Steven McRae) in Christopher Wheeldon's curious production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for The Royal Ballet.
