KING GEORGE'S INCOME.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10543, 26 August 1910, Page 6

KING GEORGE'S INCOME.

HEAVY EXPENSES OF THE BRITISH SOVEREIGN.

The report of the Select- Committee for settling the King's Civil List has again fixed, the total of the British Sovereign's income at £470,000, the sum paid yearly to King Edward. The British King is poorly paid. He receives less than half the sum paid to the German Emperor, £310,000 less than the income of the Austrian Emperor, and considerably less than the King of the comparatively poor kingdom of Italy. The royal income is divided into six sections. During tlie last reign the division' was as follows: — Privy Purse £IIO,OOO Salaries 125,800 Expenses 193,000 Works 20,000 Alms ; 13,200 Unappropriated ....... 8,000 £470,000 The salaries are paid to a vast army of officials engaged in the departments of the Lord Steward, the Lord Chamberlain, and the Master of the,. Horse, and to a smaller body of officials who work with the Keeper of the Privy Purse. These officials form a great army stretching from the heads of the Household, appointed by the Government of the.._day, down to the footmen, the cooks, and the housemaids. Under the Lqrd Steward arc a Treasurer, a Comptroller, the Master of the Household, the Paymaster of the Household, several accountants, the ] many cooks and kitchen servants, the Gentleman of the Cellars, who is in charge of the King's wine, and so on. The department of the Master of the Horse, which is practically presided over by the Crown Equerry, Sir Henry Ewart, comprises the Equerries, the Pages of Honor, Superintendents of the Royal Stables, storekeepers, veterinary surgeons, and numberless coachmen and grooms. The Lord Chamberlain is responsible

for the condition of the royal palaces, and for the stage management of all the King's receptions. His officials include a Comptroller, a Paymaster, the Master of the Ceremonies, the Lords and Grooms in Waiting, Gentlemen Ushers, Inspectors of Palaces, and so on. In addition, the Lord Chamberlain superintends London theatres; and the Examiner of Plays, the Poet Laureate, the Marine Painter, the Keeper of the King's Armoury, and the Librarian of Windsor Castle are under his sway, together with the Bargeinaster and the Keeper of the Swans.

The £125,000 spent in salaries is certainly cut up among a.sufficiently large number of persons, and when it is remembered that it has become the custom of the Royal Household to provide sonorous pensions for old and faithful servants, must- be perfectly obvious that it must be frequently necessary to make contributions from the Privy Purse. The Works Department pays for the maintenance of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and any private resi- : deuces which .the Sovereign may own. The somewhat indefinite name of '■ Expenses" covers the necessarily enormous household bills of the Court in London and elsewhere. The housekeeping of King George and Queen Mary at Marlborough House was always careful, thorough, and economical. All hills had to" be sent in monthly, and were, paid within a week of their presentation. and while no discounts were asked I'ot- or accepted, the tradesman who charged more than a lair price found himself promptly superseded. The King himself cheeked all hills sent him for personal necessities, such as clothes, cigars, hooks, and so on, and no bill was paid unless it had first been initialled by him.

Tt would'obviously be impossible for either King George or Queen Mary to continue personal supervision under the new conditions. It may, however, be taken for granted that the commonsense reforms initiated l)j r Lord Farquhar at the beginning of the last reign will be continued and possibly augmenteel, for both the King and Queen have a dislike to extravagance and waste. It is not generally realised that the Sovereign, whose duty it is to travel up and down the country laying founda-tion-stones and opening town halls, pays the full prices for the railway travelling of himself and his suite. He has also to meet the expense of entertainingforeign royal visitors as well as to pay for those Continental tours which have during the last few years been instrumental in changing the whole aspect of international affairs and vastly strentliening the position of this country. The contributions to charities are far greater than the amount set aside in the Civil List under the heading of "Alms." The public knows that a royal contribution is never lacking to funds raised in cases of sudden sorrow and distress, but the public has no conception of the daily flow of bounties, small and great, to all sorts of deserving causes that conies from the Privy Purse. Society demands the frequent giving of' Drawing Rooms, which cost the King hundreds of pounds; the sporting world demands that the King shall race, and it is notorious that a racing stable is an exceedingly costly possession; the ruler of the Island Kingdom must own a yacht and must pay for its upkeep. He must support the theatre and the opera and literature at his own expense, and his encouragement to philanthropy must be actual as well as verbal. He must necessarily keep a wardrobe stuffed with British and foreign uniforms, and out of all proportion to his actual needs, and these he must pay for himself. If he travels abroad he has to think of the dignity of his country as well as his own comfort, <and special trains and special accommodation are only obtained, even by Kings, by the payment of very special prices. In face of this enormous expenditure we treat our King in a niggardly manner, and this is the more apparent when it is remembered that the Crown lands which were surrendered to the nation nowadays provide an income, within £83,000 of the total payments by the nation to the Royal Family. Outside tlie Civil List, the King has no income excepting the revenue of the Duchy of Lancaster, some : £60,000 a year. The revenue of the Duchy of Cdrmvall, which is in the possession of the Prince of Wales, is considerably larger. But in view of this, it is suggested that the nation should at present make no provision for the present Prince.