LONDON'S LORD MAYOR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 21, 25 January 1930, Page 11 (Supplement)

LONDON'S LORD MAYOR.

i. MOSTLY CEREMONIAL DUTIES. NOTHING TO DO WITH CITY ADMINISTRATION. !. ANCIENT PRIVILEGES AND POWER. s The lord Mayor of London is Mayor .- merely of the small financial section 1 of London; (area about one square mile) - which indudesvthe territory embraced j in the ancient Roman city of London. Thus "the city" in London means hardly " more than "Wall-Street" in New York. The number of citizens who actually I live within the Lord Mayor's domain is } only 14,000, and his election depends not E upon these citizens but upon the mem- - bership of the "liverymen of the city s of London"—that is, the leading busi- ! ness men who control the ancient "city '{, companies." • "The Lord Mayor has nothing to do ! with city administration. And the Commissioner of Police is a matter for the Home Secretary, not for the Mayor to worry about. The Lord Mayor does I not have to concern himself with poli- [ tics," He does not have to issue state- . mente about street-cleaning, snow re* , moval or clubhouse gambling scandals. ! ,'' Chief Butler. The Lord Mayor, on the other hand, has duties which New York's Mayor escapes, or misses, according to the point of view. The Lord Mayor, for instance, at coronation ceremonies, occupies a position in the immediate vicinity of the new sovereign's "historic chair." If a banquet follows he has the right to' serve wine to the newly-crowned King, and his title on such occasions is "chief butler." Upon the death of the occupant of the throne the Lord Mayor becomes temporarily the principal officer in the Kingdom. NO troops may pass through the city without his permission.. He. isj entitled to thhe password to the tower/ which is sent to him quarterly under the sovereign's sign manual. At Court functions and levees he has thef'priyi-: lege of the entree"—accorded only to a favoured few. . ! The Lord Mayor is not only magistrate of the Mansion House Police Court, but first commissioner of the Central Criminal Court and at the first session takes. precedence over the Lord Chancellor of England. He also is (a notable honour) justice of the peace and perpetual coroner for Southwark. ! Power of Life and Death. The extent of the Lord Mayor's ancient rights (some of which probably have lapsed) may be gathered, from the fact that in the olden timeH he promptly had beheaded two hooligans who attempted to molest him during the Lord Mayor's parade. , ; The. Lord Mayor, as "first citizen of the Vorld and dispenser of public and mternationaljiospitality, as well as chief almoner in cases of disaster," receives a grant of £12,000 during his year of office. Actually he has to spend more than tWice this "sum from his own pocket during his term of office. .But the Lord Mayor also .receives, for h)s own exclusive Use, fOur bucks a year.' By warrant dated 1428, now in the British Museum, "four bucks from the royal forests" are every year conveyed to the Lord Mayor. And in December, according to this document, "does are given in like proportion." . This is known as the venison custom. s , The four chief robes of state of the , ; Lord s Mayor are:,:Th'e violet robe, worn ' by the Lord Mayor in his capacity of magistrate of the,. Mansion House Police Court; the scarlet robe, worn on state occasions and saints' days; the black and' gold robe worn when, he attends, in his -official capacity iof trustee, the services at St. Paul's Cathedral, and the ermine robe,,worn when the King visits the city v . -...; ■■'■■•'.' . ■;.'• ~■,.■'..■■•>; ' .-' .' I.