THE KING'S INCOME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7069, 10 April 1901, Page 2

THE KING'S INCOME.

INCREASED VALUE OP THE CROWN LANDS. DIMINISHED CIVIL LIST, In the account of the King's Civil List, given in the "Daily Mail" on Jan. 25, it was pointed out that the Act of Parliament arranging for the support of Queen Victoria's household and of the honour and dignity of the Crown, practically ends with her late Majesty's reign. The Act, which became law on Dec. 23, 1837, was to continue in force for six months after the death of her Most Excellent Majesty, "unless the heir or successor of her said Majesty shall sooner signify to. both Houses of Parliament his or her Royal will and pleasure to resume the possession of the several hereditary rates, duties^ payments, and revenues hereby surrendered by her Majesty." The several hereditary rates, duties, etc., wjiich the late Queen, following the example of her grandfather, George 111., and of her two uncles, George IV. and William IV., thus surrendered for life a»d six months after death, 'are neither more nor less than the Crown lands. But while the sum paid annually to the Crown under these arrangements has growi* smaller each reign, the Crown lands have grown yearly more valuable. This is due, of course, to good management, never possible when the Crown lands were under the direct control of former Sovereigns, many of. whom were far too generous. THE COMPACT WITH GEORGE 111. Thus, as has been pointed out already in this column, George 111. surrendered his life interest in the Crown, lands to the nation, which granted him, in return, , a Civil List of £800,000 a year. This sum was subsequently increased to £900,000; but it must be" remembered that this yearly sum/ had to provide for salaries of judges and ambassadors, and pensions, now defrayed directly by the Exchequer. George IV. continued the arrangement made by his father, but it is to be noted that he was the first Sovereign to surrender the Scotch and Irish land revenues of the Crown, while King William. IV. not only surrendered the Crown lands, but also the Crown interest in all extra-civil list sources, such as the revenues of Scotland, tlie Irish' Civil List, and Grown and Admiralty droits, receiving in return a Civil List of £510,080. The future expenditure of this amount was divided into five different classes, to each of which a specific annual sum was. appropriated, thus : — First Class— For their Majesties' Privy o Pl J rfi «, -....-. £110,000 Secoad -Class — Salaries of his Majjesty'a 'Household . . . 180,000 Third Class— Expftßses of his Majesty's Household . . . 171,500 Fourth Class— Special and Secret Ser- . vice ..!... 23J200 Fifth. Class— Pensions . . . 75,009. The expenditure of her late Majesty's Civil List was allocated in the following manner:— Firsb Class— For her Majesty's Privy Purse ...... £60,000 Second Class— Salaries of her Majesty's Household and retired allowances 131,000 Third Class — Expenses of her Majesty's Household ..... 172,500 Fourth Glass — Royal bouniy, alms, *nd special services . . . . 13,200 Fifth Class — Pensions to the extent of . £1200 per annum . . . , — ■' . Sixth Class — Unappropriated .• . 8,040 The King, as Prince of Wales, received an annual grant of £40,000, the Princess of Wales £10,000 ; this was on. the proposal of Lord Palmerston, in view of the Royal marriage, and the Heir Apparent and his bride began housekeeping with an income of something over £100,000 a year, due to the prince Consort's careful management of the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, vested by inheritance in the eldest son and heir of the British, Crown. HIS MAJESTY'S CHILDREN. In 1889, in view of the marriage of the Prince of Wales's eldest daughter, tne present Duchess of Fife, Parliament .granted an annual sum of £36,000 for th© support and maintenance of the Prince's children . • All these grants, no less than Queen Victoria's Civil List of £385,000, will ctmtinue to be paid till six months after her Majesty's death, when some fresh Parliamentary arrangement will have to be made as to what sum the nation ©hall pay annually to the King and to tne new HeirApparent, the Duke of Cornwall and York, and the .King's other children. Supposing, for the sake of argument, that, the impossible happened, and no fresh legislative compact was entered into between the new occupant of the throne and the nation, then it seems quite clear that the_ Crown lands would revert to the Crown. But it only needs a few figures to show how vastly they have augmented in value since they were first surrendered in t'ho days of King George 111. The annual produce of these Crown lands in the decade 1660-70 was close on £222,000; it took King Charles n. under four years to reduce this revenue by more •than two-thirds in grants to worthless favourites. At the accession of George 111. the gross return from the English land revenues was 6nly about £89,000 a- year; the annual average surplus paid into the Exchequer, after the Civil List had be^n paid, was about £10,000. But the change of management at last began to tell. During the first year of her late Majesty's reign the. surplus revenue, over and above* the satisfaction of the Civil List, was £180,000, which went to the National Exchequer. Twelve years later the annual surplus averaged £-252,000. For 1872-73 it was not lass tiwin £375,000. Since 1832 the annual surplus has even exceeded the gross amount of the Civil List; the amount paid to the Exchequer for the financial vcar ended March 51 last being £450.000." And even this wnormous increase does not indicate the turning point of Crown land in prosperity.