THE KAISER'S MANY PALACES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 79

TH E KAISER'S MANY PALACES.

The Kaisers-is"* trying to have his pay raised. He finds it utterly impossible to play the role of the "great and only William" on a mere 4,000,000d0l a year. The .Prussian diet will Shortly be asked to make a substantial addition to this already heavy tax on the ratepayers, and it is expected that there will be a lively protest Jby ■some of the' latter. For it will be remembered that Prussia assumes -.the 1 whole burden of the civil list, Eny peror. William taking on the joh of Kaiser of the German Empire without pay. r.jj'he reason given J. or this request for TJigher "wag.es is the fact that the cost of living has materially increased in~ s Ger. pnTsny,^isd tljat^his Majesty's chamberlains as cheaply' as heretofore. Which. 'draws' attention to- the interesting circumstance that the Kaiser has more official % relitle,rice6 |teoi.* any other monarch in tine world. One would have supposed: that with '4B* -roofs to shield his royal -head he would have "been supremely content for some time to come, but since he bought thej-Achilleion,, in Corfu, the one-time residence, .of the Empress Elizabeth, and made the total number just one short of half a hundred, the German people, and especially the Prussians, who foot tiK* >bills',<-aie if there are any limfr tatione to his ambitions in that line. — Slightly Ostentatious. — What the Kaisei does with all Mf is subject for speculation with all but the initiated. If they cquld all be bunched they would form a good-sized village — and a village more pretentious architecturally that any other in the whole world. For some of his palaces are of enormous size, and most of them are, ostentatious aoid showy in their construe-. •twn'aaifd'-Atyie. ' As a. 'matter "of fact, though, they are all, in German parlance* ScMos^ — Imperial castles. Very few oorf r them, such as the widely-known residences at Berlin and at Potsdam/;- are really castles in the , strict -feenee^trf'the -Word.' -"Many of r them; formerly built ac strongholds, perched, upon peaks, or squatted in the" ; middle ot marsfiies inorder to make them impregnable against^ attack, haves. given way tci .;amb3i*Ertis^modern palaces. the word r 'schloss" is now applied .to any house ofi con^SeraWfe'lsize wMct "a nobleman owns* or occupies."' —Drain on the Taxes. — . The upkeep of the Kaiser's numerous 'castles has given the German people many But as the bills are not! voted on, they have no chance of matt ing a real protest, and stand in too much' fear of their headl strong ruler to do co if .they, had the right. Many uninteresting " old ' places have been restored at enormous cost,' as the result of imperial whim^ .while-,b.uildinge of vast historical import* anoe — such 5 as, for instance, Konigs--WaMWhauseh—are allowed to gc to racK r and;tui'Qf.Ttie only possible reason for this appears to Tie that the old places that are-"' liojvtr neglected are too unpretentious 1 1jp r b§ -[closely associated with the reign o' the ambitious William. — Gaudy Palace.— «• Among the Kaiser's Berlin palaces tha Royal Castle on the Sprea is one of the largest an 9 probably the most familiar to American tourists. Originally it was of very modest... proportions, but from time j, to" time^ additions have been, made, keep- ! ing pace with the growth of influence and |,-fK>w^r of . tbe Hohenzqllerns.~~ r^h e castle is gaudy," "fair, and pretentious in construction. The walls outside are stucco instead of etone masonry. The pretentious codlumns of the salons indoors are of imitation marble, while the same keynote of show and pretence governs the whole structure and all its details. — Interesting Castle. — Of ' more " interest is the Charlottenburg ■ Castle, a structure much plainer and of later construction. It is situated in a charming" park, and is extraordinary for '\ its great* length. Five hundred metres, I \ believe, are the correct figures. At any rate/ I know that it is only beaten in this -respect by Sehpnburg, near Vienna, and Nymphenburg, in Bavaria. This place was the residence -of the late Emperor Frederick 111 during his last short stay in Berlin. The mausoleum in the park is the burial place of Queen Louisa of Prussia and. of her grandson, William, the first German Emperor. — Historic Pile. — ' One of the most interesting of Kaiser William's palaces, historically, is Sehloss Koningsberg, in- the province of East' Prussia. This castle, which wac finished! in 1261, was a famous stronghold of tha. renowned order of the Teutonic knights, one of the three great military and religious orders to which the crusades gava, birth, the other two being the Templarst 1 and the Knights of St. / John. At ona, time the order was She undisputed mastetf of a population of 3,000,000 people and played the leading role in the political history of Northern Europe. In tha, chapel of this famous castle Frederick 111, elector of Brandenburg, crowned himselfi aa Frederick I, King of Prussia. One inyidred. and fifty years later 'William,: who was afterwa-tcfe to be she first Ger-.' man EmpeTor, put upon his head thor same crown, in ,the same chapel. — Famous Summer Resort.— Perhaps the most widely^known royal residence outside of Berlin is Wilhelms-i hohe, near Cassel, the famous summer resort of Jerome Bonaparte while he waa King of Westphalia. The " Versailles in Germany^ as it bag been .called, vrai

begun by Frederick 11, and finished! by his .euccassoT, William, and it is said that 200Q workmen were employed for 14 years in its construction. Its chief boast to the I attention of the sightseer is the Great Fountain, which throws up a jet of water 12ft in diameter to the remarkable height of 190 ft. Napoleon 111., who was made prisoner at Sedan with 90,000 of his troops, and afterwardfe sent by his captore to Wilhelmshohe Castle, was a- great admirer of the place, andi used 1 to spend hours at a time watching the great 6tream of water shooting up into the air. — Business Enterprises. — One of the favourite resorts of Emperor William and his family would appear to be his domain, Caddnen, near 'Ebling, sitoiated in one of the ' most . beautiful forest landscapes in' the whole of Geri many. ' " This place ' has ' become widely known to the outside "world t.hro'Ojgh. the Emp&ror's very successful experiments as a manufacturer and commercial salesman. The majolicas produced under his supervision 1 -at Cadinen'are offered for sale all over the- world, ajidl are highly regarded by connoisseurs. William II is also the owner of a steam brick factory and alcohol distillery at the same place, and he tends to the details of theee various business enterprises with a care and a caution that would do credit to that slave to work, the American millionaire. But all of the Kaiser's other landed possessions, be they proud ca&tles, pretentious "modern palaces or extensive villas, sink into insdgpificance historically when compared with one small', almost shabby, cottage situated at half an hour's distance, by>- rail- from Berlin. This place is called? Konigs-Wasterhausen,' and ' was onoe a famous hunting-ground, situated in the heart, as<it..is>-.of a very large forest. To N this day it is still freqeuntly scoured by' royal , sportsmen. The "castle" is a plain, solid building resembling in appearance ,a respectable farmhouse of the second class. — Scene _of Carousals.— Konigs-Wasterhausen was the favourite siaSmpeX resort of Frederick William I, the second' : King of' Pru£6.ia7~one of the most remarkable' m'onarchs that ever sat 6n a throne, and the father of Frederick I the Great. Here he spent few months every year, and here he gave full, unrestrained veji^ to ~ the cruel, savage, brutal aspects of his nature, rendering the lives of his Queen, and his children a very hell %on earth. Here at 5 o'clock every afternoon of his stay was convened) the "tobacco parliament," that queer assembly which is as famous, in the pages of' history^ as 'the same- "ruler's Giant guard "at Potedamv