EX-KAISER AS MILLIONAIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 April 1922, Page 5

EX-KAISER AS MILLIONAIRE.

MISERLY GREED. TONS OF FOOD WHILE HIS SUBJECTS STARVED. Kurt Hennig, in his work, “Hohen- ■ zollern”, speaks with authority, as he was ; one of the officials concerned in liquidating the ex-Kaiser’s property and his claims on the Prussian Government. The book deals i with William’s Civil List before the abdication and with the vast property of the Hohenzollerns, and it contains very much > that is of special interest at the present • time. i The income paid by the State to William and the members of his family before the armistice was £885,000. Of this amount £BB.OOO went to the Kaiser's privy purse and £10,400 to the Kaiserin’s. All the sons received “appanages”. The Crown Prince had an income from the State of £42,000. With private property, which Kurt Hennig estimates at £50,000,000, the Hohenzollerns were probably the richest family in Germany. The income from it was additional to the income paid by the State, and was exempt from all control. William was of a most thrifty nature. Each year before the war he contrived to save some £50,000 of the allowance for his privy purse, and after the war began he continued his savings. He thus amassed before his abdication £900,000 from the Civil List. He owned an extraordinary number of palaces, castles and estates, and on the Crown property 3500 persons were employed. In Berlin he had 11 palaces, in Potsdam and the neighborhood of Berlin 14, at various other places in Germany another 40. 1500 POUNDS OF MARMALADE. William cannot be accused of displaying any immoderate patriotism during the war. Copper was one of the articles most needed by the German troops, and was everywhere commandeered in Germany and the territory occupied by the Germans. But we found in the kitchen of the palace and in the copper store of the Old Castle at Berlin quite 10,000 copper utensils, the necessity and indispensability of which to the Sovereign his subjects could inot understand. ' All food was most strictly rationed in Germany, but immense stores were discovered in the palace at Berlin, of which some information at the time reached the outer world. Here authentic details are given, with an inventory which shows that the food-hoarding was on a gargantuan scale. There were:

Twenty tons of wheat flour, 4 tons of rye flour, 6001 b of potatoes, 18001 b of pease-flower, 1 ton of peas, 1501 b of white beans, 6001 b of pearl barley, 4501 b of macaroni, 1 ton of ground rice, 1501 b of flaked oats, 2501 b of rice, 3 tons of sugar, 5901 b of tea, 11 tons of preserved vegetables, 15001 b of marmalade, 3 tons of jam, 16001 b of preserved fruits, 5501 b of preserved meat, and 1305 bottles of cream. In addition, “there were many other kinds of food, such as cheese and other articles.” Enough was found to victual a large number of troops, and also to provide for hospitals. These supplies were not confiscated, as they would have been in the case of an ordinary food-boarder. A protest was made by a Court official when they were touched, and “the City of Berlin had to pay the maximum prices fixed by the State.” COURIER WITH THE WASHING. In time of danger Frederick II of Prussia sent his silver to be melted down for the country. Not so William. “A thousand silver knives and forks and 100 silver spoons were transported to Doorn, amid the jeers of his former subjects. William II did not even get rid of his fearful and artistically worthless yachting prizes to put the proceeds into the war loans. The authorities permitted the historic 53 vans to convey his goods into Holland.” While Belgium was being scoured for copper utensils to be used in munitionmaking, a bath-carriage was ordered for the Kaiser and his suite. It was fitted with the finest copper installation and with other valuable metals in the works nt Brussels of the railway control. The material was taken from the Belgians; the workers were Belgian civilians whom the German authorities had told off for this purpose. During the war, every day a State courier went from Berlin, taking with him vegetables, poultry, meat and other provisions by train to headquarters, and every day returned with the Royal washing. The last, pages of Kurt Hennig’s work show the ex-Kaiser haggling with the Prussian authorities as to the exact amount, of the payment which they are to make him for his property in Prussia. A settlement on the basis of a payment of £5,000,000 in gold has been reached, but has not yet been carried through. He is thus extremely well off in his exile. Having lost the war and covered Europe with dead, he sits at Doom iri the enjoyment of a princely income.