THE QUEEN'S KITCHEN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2423, 21 January 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE QUEEN'S KITCHEN.

In the Queen's kitchen there is abook-keeper to give orders to grocers, provision and other dealers; four clerks to aid him in his work, :i chief rook, four master cooks, two yeomen of the kitchen, two assistant cooks, tivo roasting cooks, four scourers, three kitchen maids, a storekeeper, two "green office" men, two steam apparatus men, first and, second yeomen of confectionery, an apprentice, three female assistants, an errand man a pastiy cook, two female assitauts, a baker and assistant and three coifeo-room women. There is an extensive wine cellar, superintended by a man of largesalary and an army of officers engaged in various departments suggestive of eating and drinking. Plenty of servants to make work for each other, and doubtless many of them find plenty to do! Hut the wages the servants receive in the Koyal household are not large, \V e nre told that even so gorgeous a gentleman as a Queen's footman lias to begin with a modest £50 a year which in course of time msty expand £80, but no further. Per quisites, too have bean abolished or curtailed. There is an allowance of six guineas and a half for hair powder, bag and stockings; but each man has to find his own blacking and boot brushes, and to pay for his own washing. A suit of .state livery is suirl to cost l! 120. They are rarely used, and of course rarely renewed. When they are renewed, however the old garments become, the perquisites j! the wearers, and the gold lacj upon them is of course, of considerable value The Queen has fifteen footmen, and one sor-geant-footnmn with a salary of £VM a year Formerly the sergeant-footman or one of the si.v senior footmen was often promoted to the position of page-of-the-presence, or of a Q !«en's messenger,'either of which was worth £300 or £500 a year. But this practice lias gone the way of most of the perquisites, and the position of a Royal footman is no longer sov.ght for as it used to bo.