A reader has received a particularly intriguing e-mail invitation from Nigeria. It's from Dr John Korede of Euro Swiss Diplomatic Vault. Our reader said: 'When I read the first line I thought: 'Gosh, someone else I have forgotten to reply to!' but then a feeling of vast relief as I realised it is another fail-safe money maker.' The invitation begins: 'With honour I have sent you a mail but till date you have not respond to reintroduce my self I am John Korede Here in the Vault where I work as Vault Manager in my custody there are boxes dormant for year, owned by a late Engr Michael Ewing . . .' Yes, it's another 100 per cent risk-free investment opportunity. The recipient is not asked for bank details straight away, merely offered the promise of an unspecified percentage of the US$26.9 million Mr Ewing had stashed in the Vault before his unfortunate death. 'It is because of the perceived opportunity of not being able to locate the late Engineer Michael next of kin (he had no wife or children) that the management under the influence of our chairman and member of the board of directors, retired Major Gen. Bensons macaw that an arrangement be made for the boxes to be declared unclaimed . . . etc' We like the sign-off: 'We shall both smile together at the end . . . I believe you should understand my explanation, as you are a matured person who is living for good.' On a mission: A few companies and organisations slipped out of our item last week on the visiting trade mission from Britain. This biggest trade mission since the handover of sovereignty is made up largely of smaller British companies, who generally need mentioning in newspapers even more than big companies. As we reported, Trade Partners UK, the British government's export promotion body, has brought representatives of more than 30 companies to Hong Kong on the mission, which officially lasts from today until Thursday. The mission leader is Sir David Chapman of Laing & Cruickshank Investment Management. Among the trenchless technologies (TT) representatives unable to fit in our last item was TT consultant Brian Syms, a specialist in analysing and surveying pipelines, as well as TT advice for pipelines and cables. Charador Pipeline Services represents other companies active in TT and waste handling. The British consulate tells us Charador is looking for regional distributors and representatives. A company in the mission with existing links to Hong Kong is Planned Maintenance (Pennine), an installer of man-entry pipe joint repair systems. This company has already been granted a licence by Hong Kong-based Buda Engineers & Consultants. The Centre for Design Research is another important name within the mission, a research-led design consultancy based in the northeast of Britain. Water industry readers, please note our final name: it's WRc, a 'fitness for purpose' tester of water industry-related products. We'll sign off on this trade mission for now, but if any of these names pop up in the news again we will be sure to mention them. Lucky numbers: This week we have called in a specialist to help select the next winning Mark Six numbers, hoping the Hong Kong Jockey Club will find it easier to match its numbers with ours. We called Suharti Rahmad, an Indonesian woman who, like many Indonesians, uses two names and lives in Tsuen Wan. Suharti said she liked big numbers this week: 'Most of the winning numbers will be bigger than 20, except 20 itself, which I like. I am 24 but I have never really liked the number 7. I think 17 is much better.' Suharti's birthday is in January, the 1st month of the year. She has no children (0) but three brothers, implying 30 as a likely winner. The first two digits of her phone number are 1 and 6, suggesting 16. 'Thirty-three is a nice, symmetrical number,' Suharti said, a smile revealing 32 shiny teeth. Graphic: whee11gbz
