New-York tribune., 1900-11-25
QUEER BRITISH PENSIONS.
SALARIES PAID TO INCUMBENTs OF Of
FICEs THAT HAVE BEEN ABOLISHED.

From The London Express.
The Government, like any great concern in COM
merce is constantly face TO face with the necessity
tributes periodically to the great army of unem-
poyed.
1t is inevitable The operation of every important
new law involves administrative changes which
throw Whitehall into temporary chaos and necesst-
tate the abolition or reconstruction OF certain
And in such cases somebody must GO Somebody
who has sat on Government stool for twenty
with 1t is a common delusion that there is no in
security in Government posts. There is. Of course,
Government post sometimes comes to end,
ttg through no fault OF The man who holds it. and and
who are to-day idle through the operation of laws
= But II there is no perpetuity OF work under the
eioyernmen{ % there is what many people will think
Once paid, always paid is the happy condition
OF thousands Of pounds sre Pad from the Pubs
purse every year to people who do nothing at all
II They may have sat on Government stools years
lains In some little corner of the empire. where
housekeepers, laundresses. jailers Iaborers minis
ters governors, consuls. 1t matters not. Our gen
=, 1t gives US a very kindly feeling toward our
is still paying about 100 year to iaandresses and
,hoGSrkeePSrs who lost their washing and house
from Westminster Hail twenty years ago
There Is field laborer somewhere who has re-
uy the o I1 of the u0e nj
n the had & for b do something
d 70 ana Ies h er ngo made up
housekeeper of its Crown Office. who has received
And the Queens sweep too, whose office was
demolished 10 make way for the Parliament-st;
no in spite M Of the fact !, that he may s
Windsor Castle as his family has done for cen
tudgeshps abroad during the last thirty years is
still costing the Treasury several thousands year
} In a ~ find hot
the public purse is stiu feeling the strain caused
up OF the pivorcs Court in the ffties
The Courts of Justice. where changes have been
to men who have been thrown idle by changes in
Vision for example has for several Years past
sent a check for f55 TO an old man. who through
the privilege of selling forms at the court
There are on the rns list Of o6 the same
though he never breaches a sermon; a house
hut receives s25 year. and a caretaker who draws
n flo Bank Of England note for annually taking
All these people, be IT remembered. are distinct
WRo come under another head Most Of them are
still able and willing to work when something
the lucky Victims, very often-of some act Of Par
lament or some adminstrative !hG;s chanse
thrown ont of work by law and often enough it Is.
with Fl GT0 year because there was no room for
him In Anglo-Russian diplomacy. is no doubt well
The Patent Office decided six years ago to do
without n superintendent OF puDHCatlOnS. ana tndt
oficiaI who had been in receipt of 1900 year,
was given ESQ a stay a home: but here
was n distinct saving OF f750 year which proba-
hy inflicted little real hardship anybody.
Whether the recipients OF the State CompenSa ton
annrecIate their release from work or not, they
accept it, knowing that at any time they he
''called back"
Our friend laundress of the Common Pleas
F,xchequer might he called upon tomorrow to pre-
nare the robes OF the Chief Justice, and the
penalty OF refusal would be the loss of her allow
ance And the st. Helena storekeeper who has
been paid fl a week for doing nothing since he was
Young man. must lose his Il a week keen his
eye on General Cronje II the Government ordered
him to do.
has any right to refuse any post. II called upon
TO take It for the public good. whether 1t he
the Governments 'out Of works under a
special ban IN this respect
1t is the check the State has the abuse
of it's philanthropy. and one means the State can
exercise to cut down these expenses Nobody
would attempt for a stop this gener-
petty mearuesses-thOugh the compensation OF a
dustman by the Board OF Trade by means
ustifies the neglect OF soldier by the War ONCE
But there ought he limits to the gen
erosty of the State. and II is good to see that
the Government spent 10000 last year to redeem
annual payments to people who have never earned
them. and who know little nothing OF the reason
whv they were granted.
There is no sense IN either pensions or COM
nensations which last forever. And perhaps some
wideawake official will discover some day that
Somebody is still receiving f62 9s Sd every year
because somebody else happened to be Ohicer OF
the Pipe in the time OF the Stuarts. The Pipe Is
broken and its Officer is dead but the money. like
the brook. goes on still