A BARGAIN IN KINGS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 6027, 11 October 1906, Page 5

A BARGAIN IN KINGS.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, August 14.

King Edward is no doubt fully cognisant of the privileges and disadvantages attached to the occupation of tho Throne of England. According to Professor Mastenmin, who has boon lecturing on British institutions at Cambridge University, and made “The King’ his first subject—if it be permissible to describe His Majesty as a subject—if King Edward , shot Sir Henry Campbell - ’Banncrman dead, there is no iaw court which could try him for tho crime I

King Edward, however, is not in tho least likely to adopt such a method ol ridding ilinvself even of a Prime Minister he might deem “pestilent, J> nor to take advantage in other directions of the doctrine tnat “tho* iving can do no wrong.■

It will no doubt como as a surprise to many people to learn that iving hdward is a bargain in monavchs, nxnu the financial point of' yiew. Wo know that, compared with Certain Continental rulers, the cost of the maiiivenanoe of the King is a mere bagatelle, but « Professor iuasterman the trutu we got him ,f cqnsidcrably under cost price/' Rather - more than 100 years ago. tho Crown lands, which then formed the chief source of Royal revenue, wore taken over by the nation, they were not then bringing hi very much, and the nation had to supplement them by grants. They were over by arrangement with the Sovereign. Since then % things have improved, auo Che Royal-lanes bring in rather more than it costs us to have a king. •“Therefore,". said tho Professor amid laugnter, “wo-get'our King at . rather less than ocst price, which is a higUiy satisfactory thin". 35 - \

The .Professor -asked and answered tho question “How is the King appointed?” Most people would reply that ho was appointed 1 by lioieditaiy succession': but that was Only partly true. A book exists in which it is stated that ther© are over 6000 people who by a right oi heredity possess a bettor Tight to sit upon the throne than the present King—that was to say, they wero relatives of James I. Ifi© fact of tin; matter was, of coarse* that our kingship isa combination of ™ re ” ditary and elective methods by an Act of Parliament. The accession of King Edward, the Professor, said, marked, the revival of the political 1 unpo-rtanco of tho kingship of England. In the few years our jxing had reigned,everything had indicated -a - very strong tendency for the Monarch’s right to assert ■influence far stronger than bad been tho case previously. . ' • :

In reference to tho King’s influence upon fom.gii policy, Professor Mastermail held that though His Majesty had no power to make a treaty, the oovoieign more nearly represented the rteelino of the great mass of the people than did a great statesman, and when the King extended tho right friendship . it very-, -largely, represented tho right liaind of tho British nation a fact which was worth remembering in view of recent events. I ’

Xf wo were to substitute A President for a Monarch, we should, according to Mr Mastorman, * lose in two. ways. Wo should substitute for a man who. was above party a man who was only-a wheel in tho party “machine, and wo should substitute. for a, man who had been trained by long experience a. man who could never havo Uad the c-xpori-onco tho King had. , It would i not, bo so much cheaper, and it i would ,bo milch more dangerous. That raised tho interesting question, : ‘‘Would , the, monarchy tend bo grow stronger m tile tuturef” .That depended almost 1 entirely on the personal cliaracter of tho kings in tho near future. It seemed exceedingly probable thaf ;if two : or rthrnso English: kings in succession - should Combine the same kind of exti-aordinary tact and discretion which belonged to bur. present I’Kfng,’:with the same real enthusiasm for national, good and tnc peace of tho world wo might be on the evo of a very much greater recrudescence of monarchy l , in England than, we at present realised. A democratic kingship, a king •‘broad-based upon -th©; paop.o’s will,”:: making iumselr the oxprosiiou of tho needs and claims of the masses, mig.it wield far stronger power in English l.io thaii- we Were accustomed ’to associate: with, the, idea ot 'English' monarchy, v; 1 : 1 ’r'v;,;:',

An interesting point in Professor Masterman'S; lecture : was his reference to the resignation of the late Lord Salisbury at the’ beginning -,.ofthe King’s reign. This, he said, was generally undo.stood to have been the outcome of a 1 difference of opinion between the King and his Prime Minister on the question of the-creation of peers.-The King claimed that peerages should be granted by him after consultation with tbO Prime Minister, hut that m) peerages should be granted, without his personal leave or consent. Under Queen Victoria tho custom had. been ■ for the Prime Minister lo draw up a list of peerages, and: for the Queen to con-, sent as a matter of course, or practically so. and tho King’s ro-assertipn of his personal rights as “the fountain ol honour.” was said to havo causad Lord Salisbury’s resignation.