Morning journal and courier., 1882-04-10

The request of the Queen of England fol
ian establishment for Prince Leopold upo1
his approaching marriage has again called
the attention of the English people to thu
great salaries they pay their rulers and the
vast sum paid in pensions to those who have
no good claim upon the treasury.
Every year the Queen is paid g395, 900, tc
be devoted solely to her majesty's household
and ''the honor and dignity of the crown. >
| This large sum is generally overdrawn.
| There has not been a year since 1870 in
| which the household expenditure has not ex-
ceeded e4O5,OOO. The Prince of Wales re-
| ceives $4,000 year from the nation and
the use of sundry palaces, repairs on which
| cost about &c, 600 a year He also receives
| 10000 year from the revenues of the
| duchy of Cornwall. The Princess of Wales
Duke of Edinburgh draws e25. 900 year in
addition to his salary as admiral the Duke
of Connaught Els, 900 year Prince Leo
.pold e15,000; the Princess Royal, 5000 !;
Princess Helena, Princess Louise and the
Duchess of Cambridge, $4,000 each; the
Duchess of Teck. $4,000; the Princess
Mecklenburgh Strelitz $4,000; and the
Duke of Cambridge e23, 500.
Among the officers of the royal household
are a lord high steward at 60, 900 year-all
these salaries are "extra"-a treasurer at
1904; a lord chamberlain at e2, 900; keeper
of the privy purse at the same figure eight
ladies of the bed chamber at $500 apiece
ais,bE dc 81
of the horse at So, 500; and master of the
buck hounds at 81, 700. There are also
barge master at $500; master of the ten
mis- court at e132, and a hereditary guard
falconer at 1920, though her gracious
majesty never uses barge, nor plays at ten
mis-, nor keeps a falcon.
Most of the salaries and allowances noted
above have show of reason in them, but it
is otherwise with some of the pensions paid
out of the English treasury Thus, Colonel
William Stuart is paid 81, 900 year "on ac-
count of William PENIS meritorious services
and family losses in the American war" This
pension dates from 1890 Lord Amherst was
given pension of So, 900 year by George
III. in 1903. This is still paid to his grand
son, who is just now the inmate of lunatic
asylum. In 1901 Earl Nelson was given a
pension of $4,000 a year, which died with
him in 1906. But a pension of 81 800 was
then given his widow and one of &c, 900
given his brother. Both these pensions are
now paid to Earl Nelson, who is the grand
son of Horatio Nelson's oldest sister. Wis
count Hardinge has yearly pension of $4,000
because of his fathers great services at the
battle of Moodkee" in 1876. The seventh
Lord Rodney is paid pension of 60, 900 be-
cause in 1882 the first Lord Rodney boat the
French feet in the Mediterranean. The pres
ent Duke of Wellington draws a pension of
81 900 because of the great dukes services
in Spain and at Waterloo. 1t should be add
ed that the poet laureate receives the vast
sum of e1OO year, and that 81 200 a year
is set apart for pensions to persons who "by
their useful discoveries in science, by the
performance of duties to the public, or by
their attalnments in literature aud the arts,
have merited the gracious consideration of
their sovereign and the gratitude of their
country
This country is ''blarsted" and 'beastly''
enough in many respects, but it is matter for
congratulation that we are not burdened in |
the way indicated above. At the rate at |
which we are travelling, however, it may not |
be long before we are guilty of equally ab- |
surd performances.