WHAT IT COSTS TO BE LORD MAYOR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 8, 10 January 1912, Page 11

WHAT IT COSTS TO BE LORD MAYOR.

_____—». £10,000 SALARY TOO SMALL. EXPENDITURE OF £40,000. To be Lord Mayor of London and live on £10,000 _ a year, tho official allowance for maintaining the high dignity of that office, is a, problem winch most chief mngisf-ratea tind beyond them. It was with the object of obtaining enquiry into this financial, puzzle that Mr. Carl Hentschol moved recently at the Court of Common Council' meeting at the Guildhall that the General Purposos Committee should be instructed to consider and report "on the question of the expanses of tho Mayoralty." This matter^ however, the, 'court decided to leave in abeyance, at tiny rate, for a time,' but agreed that the General Purposoj Committee should consider sundry alterations and improvements at the Mansion House. , An idea of what it really costs to bo Lord Itfayor of London was given in an interview by Sir William Treloar, who held tho office in 1906. "I hay© heard of a case," he said, "where a Lord Mayor spent £30,000 more than his allownnce, and of others where au additional £20,000 was expended. I know myself perfectly well how easy it is to spend £10,000 above the allowance. More than that I cannot say, except that I do not think it possible for any Lord Mayor to keep to his offioial £10,000." SOME ITEMS OF EXPENDITURE. A few of the chief items upon tho expenses side in the balance-sheet of a Lotd Mayor of London were supplied by an alderman who has passed the mayoral chair. Tho approximate figures were: — Half cost of. Lord Mayor's Show and banquet, the balance be- . ing paid by tho two Sheriffs £2,000 Official dinnors at the Mansion numbering eight ,to .ten '... # .' £4,500 Private dinner and luncheon parties to friends £2,500 Mansion House bulls £1,200 "Ol course," said this ex-Lord 'Mayor, "there is rcall.y # ho limit to a Lord Mayor's expenditure. It 'depends entirely upon his own inclination." Some of tho othor' expenses that a Lord Mayor has torneet are the sularies^of secretaries, tho wages of the Mansion House sorYftnts, numbering ' botween forty and fifty, und tho upkeep of horses aud carriageb, apart from the state coach. Many, too; are jjho demands of charities upon a Lord Mayor, and it is estimated that it is impossible for, a, Lord Mayor to keep his expenditure below £13,000, or £3000 above tho official salary.