FLURSCHEIM, MICHAEL, was born at Frankfurt, Germany (1844), left school at the age of 16, and entered the banking house of his uncle, L. A. Hahn. He spent a year in Berlin, and then entered a share-broking and exchange firm in Paris. In 1867 he became a wholesale manufacturer and importer in New York and, returning to his native city in 1872, he published there the American News for the benefit of Americans in Germany. In 1873 he purchased the Gaggenau ironworks, which he developed into one of the leading hardware concerns in Baden. Flurscheim retired from business and travelled again widely. He was interested in currency reform and tried to induce certain interests in England to form an exchange currency of their own. In 1898 he came to New Zealand and endeavoured for some years to promote the idea of land nationalisation and currency reform. He gave evidence before the federation commission (1901) and published a number of books, including Rent, Interest and Wages, Money Island (1897); Business Without Gold (1898); and The Clue to the Economic Labyrinth. He also published in Wellington, as a supplement to The Guardian, The Pioneer of Social Reform (1899).

Cycl. N.Z. ii (p); Scholefield, Union Catalogue; Who's Who N.Z., 1908.

Reference: Volume 1, page 151

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