KINGS MAKING ENDS MEET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 29, 27 February 1909, Page 3

KINGS MAKING ENDS MEET.

SOME IXTEIvESTIXC FACTS ABOUT ROYALTIES IX DEBT. The Kaiser is threatened with bankruptcy. Ever since last April the financial position of the llewnau Court has been shaky, and efforts have been made all through tbe_siiiniuer to obtain an addition tu the Jiiuperur's Civil List. Things have reached such a pass that he 'has offered to sell the castle and estate of Erdniaunsdorf, in Silesia, for .00,000. Four oilier imperial castles are also to be put on the market, a'.id H is hoped that, if purchasers can be found for all live lots, the present urgent difficulty will be tilled over. The reason given lor the proposed addition to the Civil List is that the cost of living in (jernmny has greatly increased of late years. There is no doubt tiint His .Majesty's .exoenscs have increased, but this is very largely owing to his own extravagance, his costly journeys, and the lavish pomp maintained on all State occasions.

Then one of the Emperor's weaknesses is to be the owner of a large unrulier of palaces, and iu this direction he probably holds the record. He owus at least fifty of varying size and splendor, and this year he has spent about £11)0,000 on Acliilleinn anil llohkoeuigsburg, while in Posen ilie is building another, estimated to cost a quarter of a million. lintnl finances seem lo be in a very bad way just at present. The other day the Slum of .Persia was pawning his jewels, and just a little earlier Abdul Aziz, ex-Sultan of ..Morocco, was frantically trying to pawn his jewels in Paris. They included several diamonds as large as hazel nuts, emeralds, rubies, anil several pearl necklaces. Thev cost the Sultan little short of half a million, but all he could raise on them was a paltry 100,000. DRASTIC ECONOIMIES INTRODUCED.

King Leopold is still hampered by the debts he contracted in his young days, aud it is said that it will tiike years "to free His .Majesty finally from this incubus. The most drastic economies have been brought about iu the. Royal palaces.

There have .been reforms in our own palaces, for immense sums of money appear to have been wasted on innumerable trifles during Queen Victoria's reign.

One day, while the Queen was driving, the, Royal coachman was taken ill. iller Majesty called for brandy, but there was none to be got. Eventually, they returned to the Palace, where'order's wore given tiliat a bottle of brandy should always be placed in the Koyal carriage before tilic Queen went out. This, of course, was done; but, owing to the fact thatTT fresh bottle of brandy was placed iu the carriage nearly every time it was taken out, the expense of the Queen's thoughtful order soon became rather heavy. This drain has now been discontinued.

When the Queen was in residence at Windsor, it took no less Mian £SOO a day "to light the kitchen lire," to use the phrase current among the Castle servants. These servants, too, were kept up in unnecessary numbers, as a single instance will show. Three ''chocolate, women" were kept, who had nothing else to do bat prepare the one cup ol chocolate a day that was served to Queen Victoria when she was called in tillo morning. Another expensive item in the old Royal household was the bill for candles. |Mo candle that had once been lighted, [if only for a few minutes, was ever again used. The financial difficulties of the Bortugucso Royal House are being slowly straightened out, and since the sale of her pawned jewels and clothes, Princess Louise of Belgium has been, financially, lying low. King l'eter of Servia, 100, is worried about money, and ho can hardly ask for help from ihis- Coveniuient, for they, in bheir turn, are half crazy over the debts that Alexander left behind him. One creditor alone is claiming £IOO,OOO. PRINCESS LMJ'IUSONEI) FOR DEBT. The democratic spirit of Switzerland was proved when a Swiss court sentenced' Princess Alexandra of Bucdingen to three weeks' imprisonment, because she did not appear in bankruptcy proceedings brought against her. Another Royal bankrupt is a nephew of Uuii'ii Ein'nia, of the .Netherlands. Prince Eberwein took' tile castle Ol OudWussemuir, and furnWied it in splendid style. (Soon after, the agents of a London tailor seized the furniture. This bill was, with difficulty, settled, but the rent fell due, and the Prince could not pay. Bailiffs took possession, and furniture, carriages, and horses were sold up. Other Royal bankrupts are the Archduchess Clo'tilde of Austria, Duke l'aul of ileckleiiburg-ScliM'erin, and his son, Dulic Ik'inrich, the first of V'liom is a frisky old dame of sixtv. Pearson's Weekly. '