THE INCOMES OF MONARCHS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2371, 10 August 1899, Page 56

THE INCOMES OF MONARCHS.

It is remarkable that the richest kingdom in Europe has one of the cheapest monarchs, and one of the poorest one of the dearest — the latter financially, not sentimentally; Turkey pays to the Sultan more than twice what Great Britain allows Her Majesty the Queen. Despite this fact, and also that the Sultan is possessed of an enormous private income, " the Sick Man " is chronically "hard-up." ' The most expensive monarch to his country is certainly the Czar of Russia, who receives over a million every year from the none too fat purse of his vast empire. Next after him follows the Sultan of Turkey, with a grant of over £780,000; then the Emperor of Germany, £10,000 per annum less than the Sultan. Even poor Italy, which has not the inducements to disburse huge sums of money that Turkey has in its. absolute monarchy, and Germany in its great wealth, manages to allow its King £600,000 odd ; and Spain, bankrupt for years though it has been has to grant for tht. household of King Alfonso more than Great Britain bestows upon its Queen. But the national grant of a country to its monarch must not be taken as a criterion of the monarch's income, for there is the private fortune which every crowned head possesses to be reckoned with ; and in nearly every case this is a much bigger item than the other. In this matter, also, the Czar of Russia is far ahead of his fellow-monarchs, and there can be no question of doubting he is richer by half than any crowned head in the world. To say with any degree of exactitude the amount of his wealth is obviously impossible, because he, being an absolute monarch, autocrat of autocrats, is free to double or treble his income, at the cost of the nation he rules, whenever he wishes to do so ; a position nearly equal to possessing all that he cares to spend. He owns enormous properties, which cannot, at the .lowest estimate, bring him in less than £3,000,000 a year, and may very easily return twice that amount. Even the lowest estimated value of his property, with his grant from the revenues, will give him the enormous income of more than four million pounds, to which sum the income of no other monaroh can compare ; and, even with the heavy expenses to which he is put in maintaining his Court, this must be ample provision for him. It goes without saying that an absoiute monarch has greater facilities for filling his pocket than a ruler who is properly looked after by a Parliament, and it will always be found that the former are, comparatively peaking, infinitely richer than the latter. Hence it is that the second richest monarch in Europe is no less than ' thi Sick Man " of bankrupt Turkey. His income from the country's revenues is approximately £800,000 a year, to which sum must be added the income from his private property, and this is estimated at between three-quarters of a million and a million. Yet, as we have already said, Abdul Hamid is nearly always at a loss to know where ■So turn for money, not only for the national expenditure, but for his own private requirements. The King of Italy can surely congratulate himself upon being very wealthy considering the deplorable state of his country. His national grant of over £600,000 is really wonderful, coming as it does from the purse of a kingdom overrun by debt ; and his private forfcunt has been estimated at nearly five millions, which should, at fair interest, increase his total income to threequarters of a million. ' The German Emperor has been stated to be worth £2,500,000 a year, but this is very far wide of the mark ; we should be greatly surprised if this were not more than a million beyond 'his actual worth. His cost to the nation is not £800,000, and though he is possessed of vast estates which arc all highly profitable tc himself, they cannot well return him more than £500,000 or £600,000. We should be much more inclined to put his total income at £1,500,000 than £2,500,000, and probably it does not touch the former sum. Emperor Franz Jo&ef receives from his dual-monarchy £940,000 per annum, half of which is paid by Austria and half by Hungary. His income from private property is said to be very considerable, but there are so many versions ac to its exact amount, that we must be excused from attempting tc decide which appears most feasible. 'The total income, however, can- < not well be less than £1,200,000. Holland is a small country, with a population, about the same as that of Greater

London, and cannot, consequently, be expected to pay its monaroh any fabulous sum. The young Queen receives the comparatively small grant of £54,000. Happily, however, the Queen is possessed of .very considerable private means, and she could probably get along without any difficulty were the grant entirely withdrawn.