BRITISH PENSIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10694, 8 January 1897, Page 3

BRITISH PENSIONS.

The biggest annual pen&ion .that ie paid in any part of the world is L19,000, and its history is a remarkable one., The Duke of Richmond is the recipient, and he has never moved a finger or a leg to acquire, this vast annuity, which is perpetual, passing /from son to son, for no other reason than that the first Dqke of Portland had the ear of Charlss 11. THe facts are related by the Army and Navy Journal as follows:—" In 1676 Charles II grunted the Dake of Portland a pension of L19,000 a year, in perpetuity, in H en o f a duty of Is a caldron.'on all coala exported from the ;Tyne. Up to 1799 the family had received as proceeds of the duty upward of L2.000.000, and in. July, 1799, the duty was commuted for an' anneal oayment in perpetuity of L19.000 a y ear f rom the consolidated fond. As security-for its payment consols to the value of L633.333 6s 3d were purchased. In the following year L485.434 4s 7d worth of these consols were sold, aad th» proceeds invested in land, and dnrin<» the pressent reign the remainder of the consols were sold and the proceeds similarly invested. Taking the annual payment on account cf pensions at the present time, Earl Nelson is in receipt of the highest outside the Royal annuities—viz., LSOOO ner annum, payable in perpetuity to all aad every one of the heirs male to whom the title, of Earl Nefcioa ehail descend. The Duke of Wellington's aur.KsJ peosion of 1.1000 is foe life; and Lord Rodney's pension of L2OOO is,, like that of. Eari Kelsoa, perpemal. Tiie amount of Royal ennnistes,' excluding the Queen's grant of L385.000, is L173.000, aod counting the pensions for naval and military services, L27.700; political &nd civil, L13.056; jndiciai, L70.705, besides a largs ».nmijer of '..miscsllaiwons pecsioEs, the total comes 'to L316.75S yearly. The largest peesion on retiring. from offie3 13 the LSOOO a year given to retiring hvto Chancellor*."

A CAPTAIN SAVED BY HIS

HORSE.

A graphic narrative is told ia the Natal Advertiser by Surgeon-captain Grsv, one of the officers who served in Rhodesia. In the attack on M*sbangombi's the howes began to drop, and soon 13 lay on the ground, and it looked as if tha insn would all be kHlurf Evidently Captain Turns? thought so. for invirtually gave the oidur, Suave qui peut telling every mac to fight tha best he could for his own hand. Bus though the horses continued to fall, the man escaped. Dr Grey, to use his owa words, " led towards the way out ender a raking are at a galiop and was cloEely followed by the troop Very gooc, however, I fell from the saddle-, struck with a bullet/from an elephant gun about 500 yaids off.' The bullet struck me on the top of the thigh, smashing the socket of the thigh bone, breaking a vein, and otherwise wounding rni\ My horee was carried on at full speed with the rear guard, which rushed at desperate speed to clear tha pickftt-likt> entrance of the drift, where the natives were rallying in the hope of killing us. As I lay on the grass, bleeding profusely, I looked u'p ana saw two natives aiming at me at a distance of about 40Ct. At the same moment I eaw my horse come Miundsring back from the drift. It sndtfejily stopped and came and stood over my prostrate body, coverio" me from the firing, arid at the satae time making a, peculiar noiss through its nostrils. I thought it had baeu wounded, and that with the pain, noise;, and confusion it nad goua inad.; This notion, however was eocn dinpellad,. for. it continued' to stand over- me in a kneeling posture, ana I could'tine that the faithful, animal had come back to prefect me. I mity remark here that this hor r ;e. which I myself selected, I made a pet of. The assegais from the approaching natives wwra now beginning to fly around me, aad thinking if I coaid reach my howe's back I should be ?hot, which was preferable lo beius asoegaied, I seized the reins, put my right foot in the stirrup, aod made a supreme eilort to moant And I was successful; but how I did it I do not know, for my left side was entirely paralysed. On finding myself in the saddle, I called ' Gn ' to my horee, which darted like an arrorc towards the exit from the drift."