THE LONDON TIMES' APOLOGY FOR THE PRINCE OF WALES'S DEBTS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1913, 8 December 1874, Page 3

THE LONDON TIMES' APOLOGY FOR THE PRINCE OF WALES'S DEBTS.

Dealing with reports current respecting the Prince of Wales's pecuniary position, the Times says:-"It is true that the Priuce has not been able to live within his income. From his first entrance into public life the expenses of his position were larger than had been anticipated. Immediately upon his marriage ho was called upon to assume a relation to English society and to foreign Hoyal ies which does not necessarily, or even usually, fall to subjects, however near the Throne. We all bear in mind that the Prince of Wales has represented the Hoyal House of l-ngland for ten years in visits to the chief Courts of Europe, and has been burdened with the'expenditure required to discharge ihesf duties. In Paris and Vienna, on the banks of the Canal, or amid the splendours of the iiussiau capital, the Heir to the British Throne has been more than an ordinary Prince, and could not, without what would seem unworthy parsimony, avoid incurring great expenses, A large retinue, long journeys, and a hundred minor but necessary outlays would strain a far larger income than the Prince' has ever received. 1 hese, however, do not represent a heavier charge on his resources thau do his duties at home. The position in London society of the occupants of Marlborough House need not be dwelt upon. I o meet all these calls the Prince has an income, which at tho time of its settlement, was estimated a' £100,000 a year. As was remarked by the late Lord Derby, this is an income exceeded by the revenues of many private Peers. Still more is this the case now, when some of our leading nobles have been heaping up money for years past from coal and iron, houses and docks. 'J he yearly fixed income of the Prince of Wales cannot enter into competition with the enormous wealth possessed by the highest section of English society. Nor is it, indeed, for a moment to be desired that the provision assigned by Parliament for the Prince's maintenance in a manner befitting his position should be measured by any ex. travagant standard of luxurious expenditure. But, taking into account the inevitable outgoings of very large incomes when associated with high rank and responsibility, we are not surprised to learn that the Prince's expenditure has exceeded'his income. The excess, however, has been provided from funds which legitimately belong to the Prince of Wales, and are, in fact, his private property. During his minority the revenues derived from the Duchy of Cornwall, carefully administered under the supervision of the late Prince Consort, were allowed to accumulate. Large sums out of this fund were laid out on the purchase of a pleasant but not very profitable demesne, and on making those alterations and improvements which are commonly incidental to the pa chase of an estate. It must be remembered that the Prince had at once to assume the mode of life customary with an ; nglish nobleman while having to provide out of his own resources the whole apparatus with which an ordinary English country gentleman finds himself on starting in life, provided by the care and the cost of those who have represented the family and the estate before him. Nevertheless there still remains enough from the Duchy of Cornwall accumulations to cover the yearly deficit of the Prince's establishment. The trustees sell out stock to the amount required to pay the claims on the establishment, which is thus kept clear of debt, except in respect of such recent accounts as those we have already mentioned. From £10,000 to £20,000 has been annually required for this purpose. The Prince has thus hitherto relied on hia own means, and though no doubt, it is a misfortune to be living on capital, still this is a very different state ot things from that which the popular rumours represent. A time may come when this resource will be exhausted, but the Prince, has too proud b sense of hia own position and the relations in whioh he stands to her Majesty and the country, to seek of either a release from liabilities which he has incurred on his own responsibility, however inseparable these may be from the duties he is called.upon to perform."