EARL CROMER

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1847, 31 July 1907, Page 42

EARL CROMER

GRANT OF FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS. LONDON, July 25. The King sent a message to Parliament, signed by his own hand, recommending a grant of £50,000 to Eiarl Cromer in recognition of his eminent services in Egypt. There has been much speculation in England as. to the form Lord Cromer’s reward will take. On every side the desire is expressed that the service of the great ProConsul shall be recognised by the conferment of some signal honour to mark the nation’s gratitude upon the completion of a memorable epoch in the history of the Empire. Three ways were open to the Government—a money grant, advancement in the peerage, and the Garter. In favour of the first it is pointed out that the Earl of Cromer is not a rich man, and that his official salary has 'probably been exceeded, by the expenses of his life in Egypt, though that life was lived without ostentation. In many quarters, however, it was held that, since there was no precedent of a grant to a retiring ; diplomat, a precedent would not be made, by this Government in Lord Cromer’s case. The case of Lord Dufferin (Lady Plunltet’s father) was considered to be decisive as t-o the practice to be followed. Though Lord Dufferin rendered great services to the Empire, and was notoriously a poor man, he received no financial recognition beyond the customary pension on his retirement from the Diplomatic Service in 1896. Precedent, too, was declared to be against the granting of a marquisate to Lord Cromer. That left only the Garter, and it was declared that the King could create him an extra Knight.