THE QUEEN'S INCOME AND WEALTH.

Otago Witness, Issue 1976, 3 October 1889, Page 32

THE QUEEN'S INCOME AND WEALTH.

Speaking of the title of the Duchess of Lancaster reminds us (English paper) that the accounts of the Duchy for last year.,have just been made up, and amount to the enormous sum of £86,284. Her Majesty has received £50,000 out of the amount collected. After all 3isbursements for. the year there lemains £14,682 in hand, so.thatilie total amount to be handed over to the Queen's credit for the year 1888 is £64,682. 'Die revenue from the Duchy of Lancaster has been steadily increasing— thus in 1865 it was only £26,000, and in 1872 it; was £40,000. . Since that .date it has been increasing until it has reached the abovenamed sum; and managed as it now is, it will probably double its present revenue, and bring in close on £100,000 per annum before ,the end of the century. The Qu,een's income was at the, beginning of her reign fixed at £385,000 a year. . This sum, it was understood, would, with, the exception of £96,000 a year, be divided between the Lbrd' Steward, the Lord Chamberlain, and, the Master of the,'.Hqrse— tfie 'three great functionaries of the Royal Household. Of the residue, £.60,000 was to be. paid over to the Queen for her personal 5 expenses, and the remaining £36,000, was for "con'tingen r cies." The Prince Consort had an allowance of £30,000 a year. ' The Queen originally wished him to have £100,000, and Lord Melbourne, then Prime Minister, who had immense influence over her, had much difficulty in persuading her that, this sum was out of the question, and gaining her consent to the Government proposing £50,000 a year to the House of Commons, which, to .her Majesty's infinite chagrin^ cut the sum down nearly one-half. ' . ,\ " , f , But "besides the previously; mentioned £60,000 a year (and that residue may be vh r

%spjßnt% spjßnt Jrp r m\;tlie*rjifc, ?) of iJ^QiHI, Lisfc).^e. Queen tias another -source of income. On .August 30, 1852- there difedj a gentleman* aged' 72, of thename of John Gamden Neild* who had received every advantage in" the way of education/ graduated M.A. at Trinity . College,, . Cambridge,'- and was subsequently called: to the bar ; but he hid his talent in a napkin, .making no use, of his wealth beyond allowing it to accumulate. 1 < .From t the ; date of the death' of his father, who left- him £250,000 besides -real estate; he -had spent but a small portion of his income, and allowed himself scarcely the necessaries ot life.- 1 "He usually dressed iix st bide c'oafci with . metal buttons; but this he did- Hot allow to be brushed, inasmuch as that operation would have wqrn the nap,' and he was never known tb wear an .overcoat:. •„-•' • Mr Neildgladly accepted invitations from hisitenantry, and would only retrials on Jong visits, because he thus -saved aboard, and his i appearance often made' him an object of charity " and : commiseration, nor would it appear that he was at all aveise to being' so -regarded; nJust before railway travelling began he had been on a visit to some of his estates and was returning to London. The coach having stopped ,to allow of the passengers getting refreshments, all entered the hotel save old Neild. Observing the absence of the pinched, poverty-stricken looking old gentleman, , some good-natured passengers ,sent him out. a, bumper of. brandy-and-.water,; which the old niggard eagerly accepted. •A few- days before his death Neild told one of his eJieoators that he had made the most singular will \ but that he had & right to do as he liked with his own; When the docn-ment-was opened, it was found, with, the exception of a few small legacies, he had left all) to ".Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen , Victoria, begging her Maj 3Sty's most gracions acceptance of the same for her sole use and benefit, and that of her heirs." The property bsqueathed to her; thus amounted to more ihan ; £500,000, so that, t supposing her Majesty to have spent every, penny of her .public and Duchy, of Lancaster incomes, and to have only laid" by this legacy and the interest on it, she would from this, source alone now be worth, much more than £1,000,000. Both Osborne Iloufle and Balmoral are,, of course, the personal property .pi her Majesty, and the .two together, cannot ,be wqrt.h a .penny under £sbO,O'oO< The claims-made on the, Queen for charity are numerous, of course, and they are all ,most carefully examined by the Keeper of the. Privy Purse ; but, while duly, recognising , such calls upon her, the Queen can. hardly be regarded as openhanded. Her munificence', for example, has not been on the ' scale of that of the late Queen Adelaide,, .widow of .William IV. ' The Queen, no doubt, fully recognises fact that the British public will each year become more and more impatient of being required to vote away handsome annuities for a succession of princelings, while at the same time ib may look with toleration, if not affection, upon a number of gentlemen and ladies who ask for nothing more than the cheap privilege of, writing " Royal Highness " before their names. If then her Majesby be by her retirement and' frugality, accumulating a fortune which will, make the Royal Famil y almost independent of a parliamentary grant in excess o! the income which the Cro ivn revenues represent, she is certainly and without doubt acting with that prudence which is a prominent part of her character.