THE COST OF ROYALTY.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 146, 23 June 1887, Page 4

THE COST OF ROYALTY.

Two writers, whose letters appear \n our correspondence columns ttV day, make some inquiries antl comments with reference to the points raised in our article upon the Queen's income on Monday last. When we come to look into ancient titles of any kind in Great Britain, it is a troublesome mattea* to say what, if judged by our present standards, is a good title and what is .not. The seizures of Williamrthe Conqueror, for example, and his apportionments among his followers^ seem, at thfe first blush, to be simple robbery. Yet we act upon exactly 'the same principle to-day. The lanc>.s of the Waikato were taken from the original owners by right of conqurist, and were apportioned among the*, conquerors, and the j Maori possessors, who preceded us coiild show no better title. The large grant made recently from the public purse to Lord MVolseley to support his title also differs,1 very little .from similar ? rants in the prist. Now, according to >omesday Book, the Crown was possessed at that time, of 1,4.22 manors or lordships, besides /lands and farms in three counties^ These estates have,however, undergo-nemany variations —some kings, like, reckless noblemen, dissipating their* estates, and others making new;ap .propriations. In Queen Anne's reign, t ac control of these lands was removed!,,''from the sovereign j and placed undem' the direction of Parliament. The/net revenues of the Duchy o.fLancastei-j however, inherited from Henry the, IV., are still paid over to the soy© reign, and the proceeds of the Duchy * of Corn wall to "the Prince of Wales. Be .tween 1877 and 1882, the Queen's average receipts from,the former were^J 43,000, a yearand the Duchy of Corn-,<rall last year yielded the Prince of Wal.es The net revenue; from forests,.andland revenues 01-.tKe Crow _in 1885 , amounted, to which was paid into ;the puVdc exchequer. ..In addition to! this, theve ai?e peirtaining to the Cro^ r-n, under yarious funrepealed laws, what are ca'iled ' the "Hereditary Revenues/ wiiich.are classed under the following headings : —ltereditary excise, hereditary i jpst-office» duties, first fruits; and; teutl/,3 of the clergy, pdst fin.es, j land j rent/ j arid fines of 'leases, - rents' and quif, rents in, the colonies, revenue of j wir ie licenses, process and composition: mc-neys in the Exchequer, seizures of co' ntrabaiid and ._, illicit goods, the _\ _>' er* cent.,duties, receipts from HanaJf jer,\ criminal ( fines and,: fprfeitufes,^ droits from the Crown ; and Admiralty, casual /.revenues., ,It would occupy too much . space... to explain these fully. By. agreement, at the beginning of each reigb. the Crown surrenders all to the Exchequer in consideration .of the Civil List voted by Parliaroenty The Crown's Tight to these revenues stands upon about asgood a footiug as the right of the descendants of the Duke of Marlborough and others to the,enormous hereditary pensions voted in times past. Of course, if Royalty were abolished Parlia-' ment might confiscate to the people the whole of the Ctown lands and revenues, just as it might appropriate the estates held by the aristocracy which are held under .Crown. title. Two things, however, must be borne in mind in considering the amount paid to the Queen—the first is that she receives very much .less than the sovereigns of other first-class European Powers; and second that .she rules oyer a wealthy country iii which the incomes of j some of the nobles and even commoners are not inferior to her own. .