ROYAL SINECURES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1713, 18 June 1884, Page 2

ROYAL SINECURES.

As to Royal appointments, the Duke of Edinburgh, after enjoying one of tho most coveted births in the Navy for seveial years, is almost immediately appointed to the command of ■ the Channel Squadron, whidi, I hear, . only to be a step to the command, ono of the great naval porta, The Duke of Connaught has been equally fortunate, and from a lucrative post at atHome he goes to one of the best thingß in India. Lord Lome has just returned from a five year's term in Canada, at .£20,000 a year. Prinoe Louis of Battenberg, holds a woll paid and, in all respects, a most desirable appointment in the Victoria andAlberfc, the duties of which are nominal. Considering that his yacht has been laid up for tho last eighteen months, it is really scandalous that the country should be paying all the time for a full complement of officers, who are supposed to be employed on board of her. Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar has held the command at Portsmouth for the last seven years. Prince Leinegen received a comfortable income from the Navy, and Count Gleichon is Governor of Windsor Castle, a sinecure of over £llOO a year. I have not referred to the largo emoluments of the Duke of Cambridge. The reluctance of the late Prince Consort to disburse money was only equalled by his eagerness to obtain it.. It is generally known, I believe, that he used to hold the nominal post now filled by Count Gleichen lor many years, and although in receipt of an annual allowance ; ofi £30,000, ho regularly drew his salary as Governor of the Castle down to the very last hour of his life. The amount due to him when he died, for a few weeks which had elapsed since the last payment, was oredited to his estate, the value of which, by the way, has never yet transpired, nor, have tie provisions of the Prince's will ever been made, public. It is not: easy to understand whythe Queen should have made such a profound mystery of the matter, but it is a faot that the most stringent precautions were taken, and have been continued, to keep everything connected with the ; Prince's, property and its disposition, a dead secret—Truth.