THE COST OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1036, 1 June 1894, Page 3

THE COST OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.

• « (English Paper.) The succession of the Duke of Edinburgh to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotho, and the question that aiose in connection with the. annuity paid to him by this country have* recently given prominence to thp amounts paid by the nation tn Hit Majesty thp Queen and the members of the Royal Family. The amount paid to the Queen is L 385,000 per annum, which should be met by devoting to the purpose an , inconn: tax of about one-sixth of Id in the £ j while the total cost to thp inhabitants of the United Kingdom, if everyone contributed equally, would be slightly under 2^d apiece. Of this amount L 60,000 is assigned to the Privy purse, costing each inhabitant two-fifths of Id. The salaries of the household absorb L 131,260, equal to three-fiftieths of Id. of income tax, and costing each unit of the population four-fifths of Id per annum. The expense of the household mount up to L 172,500, or four fiftieths of Id of income tax, and would be met by a levy of Id per head on the population of the TJnited Kingdom. The Royal Bounty comes to L 13,200 and would have to be 160 times as much as it is before it would cost Id of income tax, and twelve times itspresent amount before it would cost Her Majesty's subjects in the United Kingdom Id apiece. The L 40,000 a year which the country pays to the Prince of Wales is almo?t exactly the amount that would be derived by the subscription of a |-d all round from the population of these islands. The Princess of Wales would have to receive her LIO,OOO a year for two centuries before it would amount to Id of income tax for one year ; while all that each individual of the population has the pleasure of giving to Her Royal Highness is Id every sixteen years. The children' of the Prince and Princess have L 36,000 a year between them, which is slightly less than the amount paid to the Prince himself. The total annuties paid to the Prince of Wales and his family amount to LBO,OOO, costing iv twenty-five years an amount equal to Id of income tax for one year, and forming an annual charge upon each individual inhabitant of the United Kingdom of a trifle over The Duke of Edinburgh, who formerly received L 25,000 a year, has now arranged to reduce the amount by L 15,000 and to take only the equiva lent of one two-hundredth part of Id of income tax, or one-sixteenth part of Id from each inhabitant. The four Princesses — Princess Christian, Princess Louise, Princess Beatrice, and the Duchess of Albany — each receive L6OOO a year. Each of these amounts is equal to Id of income tax for one year in 380 years, and each of us would have to pay each of the Princesses Id every twenty-five years. The. Duke of Con naught is more expensive. He receives L 25,000, and, in the course of a century, this amounts to a trifle more than at the present time Id of income tax comes to in a year, while every six years each of us gives him Id. The Duke of Cambridge receives L 12,000 a year, or rather less than half the amount paid to the Duke o£ Connaught. This, of course, is Id of income tax for one year every two centuries, and were it ten times as much as it is it would cost the inhabitants of these Islands fd a year apiece. The total cost is L 585.592. It is a fraction over Jd of income tax, and would cost, if divided equally amongst all the inhabitants of the United Kingdom — men, women and children — a trifle less than 3f d a head.