LIVING UP TO THE MARK.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1905, 2 April 1880, Page 3

LIVING UP TO THE MARK.

Waste and peculation, says a contemporary, are traditional in the Imperial household of Russia. I read that the expenses of the Empress Marie Feoderovna at Cannes were paid for at the rate of £SOOO a month. Probably this covered the bills of the butcher, baker, and grocer. It did not cover those of the wax chandler who furnished the Imperial villa and the chapel, of the livery stables, of the gas company, of the bouquetieres, and of the telegraph company. Wax candles were perpe’ually burning in the room in which mass was daily said. They were of the most expensive quality, and were sold to the chaplains of her Imperial Majesty for treble the price paid by the Catholic priest of the neighboring church. Flowers were profusely supplied to the Villa by a gardener, and when they had been a few hours in the daytime in vases they were resold, but not to the profit of the Imperial Exchequer—to the 11 bouquetiere ” who supplies the “ demi-monde ” at Cannes. When the journey back to Bt. Petersburg was decided upon, the clerk of the buttery ordered fifte-n days’ provisions for her Majesty and her retinue to be stored in the Imperial train. The overplus will be the perquisite of some official. Champagne-cup was “ en permanence ” in the saloon carriages in which the Grand Dukes and gentlemen in attendance travelled. Lunch was not taken at any of the stations at which the train halted.