Four Hundred Gold Keys

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

Four Hundred Gold Keys

—By Cyrano

\JOW we know where the gold IN goes to. Queen Mary, with more than four hundred gold or silver keys in her possession, souvenirs of official openings, declined the gift of still another this week, and opened an institution with a key of steel. The incident calls up long vistas in the lives of royal and pubjic personages—line after line of functions, foundation stone layings and openings of buildings and docks, and parks— speeches of welcome and speeches of response, illuminated addresses, caskets, trowels, keys, models. What happens to all these things? To what lumber rooms are they ultimately consigned in the passing of time? Some go to museums, to be objects of curiosity, and, here and there, objects of admiration and instruction, for in the payment of public respect and homage, art is sometimes well served. Apart from these, however, there must be a vast number of such presents in the Royal palaces and stately homes of England. In a well-known passage Horace Walpole throws e bright light on the popularity of the elder Pitt. The great cities of England gave him their freedom. 'Tor some weeks it rained gold boxes." Where are those gold boxes now? In one of its frequent moments of irreverence the "Bulletin." at the time of Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, drew a picture of stokers feeding a warship's furnaces with the addresses presented to Her Majesty; possibly fire is the final destiny of many such things. Royal Presents One gets glimpses of the mass of things presented to Royalty. The son of the Ameer of Afghanistan brought to England as gifts for Queen Victoria, 800 rugs and 40 shawls, and probably the Queen, in the course of her record reign, received many things that were both less useful and less beautiful, for some

1 of the textiles made in Asia are highly valued. Shawls 'are made in the hill ■ country of India big enough to cover a , bed, vet fine enough to pass through a finger ring. Perhaps these particular Afghan 6hawls are cherished possessions of some Royal or aristocratic families to-day. But these gifts were most easily disposed of compared with what the ruler of Nepaul (where the Gurkhas come from) gave King George V. when he visited that' State. When the King said farewell to his host he pinned on his breast the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order and the golden coronation medal, but the Maharajah's gifts to His Majesty were not so easily "carried away, for they included, besides beautiful products of native art, a young elephant, a young rhinoceros, "bears., panthers, a pair of Tibetan mastiffs', and many birds. No doubt zoos somewhere benefited. A Famous Key Gold is supposed to be an attribute of Royalty. The Field of the Cloth of Gold has come down to us as a symbol of Royal magnificence. The King of England and his guests on State occasions dine off gold plate. The Prince Consort had a gold key to unlock the despatch box that contained Foreign Office papers. When the Prince Consort'died the Queen ■refused to allow the Prince of Wales access to these papers, but years later, when the Prince was middle-aged, the key was found in the Foreign Office, and Rosebery, greatly daring, gave it to Edward. That key was a symbol of the long denial of his rights." To-day such things as gold keys strike us i as anachronisms, like gold watch chains. • We still like display, but we like it in » what we consider its proper place, which s is more restricted than it was. A steel , key is just as good for its purpose as i a gold key. save that it is apt to rust. '■ and a gold key is no use for display. It

is rather depressing to think of all the gold keys that have been given to Royalty and magnates, to lie uselessly in cases. One day England may be pressed for gold in a crisis, and the" people mav be asked, as the people of Italv "were in sanctions time, to give their'gold and silver to their country. Then there mav be a great melting down of gold key's and silver trowels and casket* fro"m loyal cities and even Dominions. Meanwhile Queen Mary, who is known to have a thrifty mind, has done a sensible thing in stopping a practice that is a waste of money. The Presentation Urge Society to-day ha* moved some distance from Victorian flamboyancy in gifts, in a recent article on the" ugliness of the Victorian age, there was an illustration of a huge piece of intricate plate presented to a Viceroy of India and shown at the Exhibition of 1851. No doubt it was thought beautiful and wonderful then; it strikes me to-dav as terrible, with it* Albert Memorial ornate mess. What happens to such pieces? If they are not kept as horrible examples, they should be melted down. But we have still a long way to go before we serve beauty and utility and economy reasonably well. The number of presentations given to public persons that fulfil all conditions is probably small. What will the recipients think of them in 10 or 20 years? What, indeed, do they think of them now? What will the recipients' descendants think of them? We can get a line on this from private experience. Some of us have turned out old family possessions and, half in satisfaction and half in regret! have consigned things to the flames or the dust-bin that once were given and received in gratitude and pride. That piece of plate, overloaded with ornament, it really doesn't go with Anything. That silver trowel, with whi<di Cncle George laid the foundations of the Mechanics' Tnstitutr—who wants it? That illuminated add ■■;■-- given to jrodfather— it ha* see., ~-, „._.], „f the light. It has ],„„,_, ~., -;,,. „-.,:; f,. r years. ■~-,,■ we must either sj,.,ve it in a cupboard | means r.o-t '>.ei!n-_- >.••.< • -].•; |..n. W> I know -!-..:■ Ifa-her w:.* hii-hlv c-r '. . l,ut we re.-.'S. .!••■.•• wan- this ;i.'v i re-finder ~f V- •.;-■,-. F r it is , 12 \-. tddrcs-i - ' -1- : ke :ss that wav. S'j.-h j testimonials a'-c idmiraid- thing*: in " :i w ,->■■;.! *,-. n m h -. : \>'n jn «vivi!P. let n* not ,li~e,-r,-.;_-e ;.-.,:.„ p,,,- „.,.i,;, ; - r it «-e better to tvne or nrln' the ~},: -~.-.- r.n ... r.,1 .],],.] i ';,.,,) V,,,, if at *■•:!•" There is dignity and be.iwy in good fy:.e. Superfluous Presents 'We n,:i-ht even in h:dc wedding present, in our '•••nsider.it h.:i ..: :h : = subject: What hoppers f •:.<■ dedicate*, and the :i!!wa;i!cis! 1 knc.w ..;je woman who. marrying i man of small mean* i n : , community of the well-to-do was given =o many present* that some years afte-s wards she *ti!i had a number put a wav unused. Thev n;av be in the clipboards :,. thi- dav. " I k'i:-.w another coutde who deliberate'v exposed to the ri-k r.f breakage -.<■■ iiglv va*e given to them n; 'heir w,-d.! : jig.' Ala*, it survived all perils, until they screwed :ip their courage and threw ;• out. Yoa cannot do thi*. however, when the giver i= liable to call. However. I seem tc have wandered away from gold kevind got into pretty deep water. It "is time to swim for the shore.