UNLUCKY THURINGIA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 4 January 1926, Page 8

UNLUCKY THURINGIA.

THE PRINCES COME RACK. SEVEN ROYAL HOUSES IN TINY STATE!. EX-IvAISERI’S SUCCESS SETS COSTLY PRECIED'ENT. Thuringia, the native land oi so.inauy of the fairy (princes- whose “biographies are told by Grimm and other nursery story-tellers, is now learning what mortal primes can be really like. The name Thuringia had tor a long time, been a geographical and not. a political expression ; but when Germany became a Republic, the seven principalities in that region were joined together, given the name of “Land of thuringia,” and provided .with a. little Parliament. TThe principalities, the rulers of which fled when they heard the firsi mntterings of the revolutionary .storm of 1918, were:

Saxe-We i mar-Lhsen a ch, Saxe-Meniugen, Saxe-Alttenburg, Sehwarzb u rg-R.u do I st adt, Schw arzbu rg-So nde rh ause n, .Reuss-Greiz, Reiuse-Uera. All seven put together are not quite the size of the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire, .about 4500 square miles, the population .being about a million and a-half. Yet that area had to support seven dynasties. Deserter-Princes. When things had become calmer in Germany, most of the princes who had run away slipped hack into the Fatherland. One or two do a little conspiring; others parade in uniform and pretend that “the good old days” have returned; all, however, are intent on one thing: to get hold of all the property they can, by hook or by crook, lay claim to. Indeed, scores of deserter-princes are swooping down on Germany like vultures on a carcass. That Germany is carrying heavy financial burdens, that, as a result of these claims, the jieople will have to suffer heavier taxation —such considerations do not weigh with those Royalties who are always asserting that “their loyal subjects” really long for them to return. The claimants want their full “pound of flesh.”

l lie ex-Kaiser set the example ; the ex-Orown Prince was highly successful; the Supreme Court recently returned to the ex-Duke of Saxe-Cbburg-Gotha not only his “private property” in the State he had once ruled, hut a whole lot which for ages had belonged to the State ; in addition, it decreed that, the former Royal servants must be .supported bv the State.

This decision hit the land of Thuringia very hard, for, although Saxe-Colburg-Gotha i>s now part of Bavaria, a great deal of the property and many of the .servants (graciously left pensionless by their royal master) are Th uring inn. To provide funds for even the preliminary payments to the ex-Duke, the Land’s budget will have to be turned inside out; the votes for education and .social reform will have to be severely cut. down.

Heartened by the ex-Duke’s “success” in burdening his former subjects, the seven former princes of the Thuringian States are now beginning court eases with a view to getting as much (property <a,s they can. The exDuke of Saxe-Altenburg is leading the wav.

The worsts of it is that the Supreme Court has already set up a precedent, which is, apparently, to hand over to the claimants all they ask for. So Thuringia is going to have a hard time of it, and in future will provide the istory-tellers - with quite a sufficient number of anything hut fairy princes. Ex-Kaiser’s £2-500 a Alonth. Aleanwhile, the ex-Kaiser, as ex-King of Prussia, is doing very well in his negotiations with the Prussian Government. Of the 80 castles which he claims, it has been agreed that 23 really belong to him. Prussia is endeavouring to astaiblish a riglit to 31, and the fate of 26 is not yet decided. Four great estates, comprising 27,233 acres, have already been handed over, the arrangement regarding them having been confirmed by the Supreme Court. This does not include the exOrown Prince’s estate' of nearly 6000 acres at Oels. The ownership of an additional 30,000 acres is not yet settled. It is stated that the total amount in property .and cash which Prussia will eventually hand over to AVilhelm of Doom will amount to at least £50,000,000. It appears that since the beginning of the year he has, by! a temporary arrangement, been receiving, for himself and family, £2500 a month—or about £IO,OOO a year more than the salary of the Viceroy of India. An extraordinary fact is that the members of the ex-Kaiser’s family in Germany receive their food supplies at half the prevailing market price !