GIFT OF A SILVER CRADLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13466, 19 April 1907, Page 6

GIFT OF A SILVER CRADLE.

ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE

CEREMONY.

A very interesting and ancient ceremony took place yesterday at the residence of the Mayor of Auckland (Mr. A. M. Myers), when the members of the City Council presented the Mayor with a silver cradle to mark the birth to him of a son during his present term of office. There were present : Messrs. C. Grey, A. J. Entrican, A. E. Glover, C. J. Parr, H. M. Smeeton, R. Tudehope, the town clerk (Mr. H. W. Wilson), the city engineer (Mr. W. E. Bush), city treasurer (Mr. T. S. Brigham), and the city librarian (Mr. E. Shillington).

The presentation was made by Mr. C. Grey, senior member of the Council, who said of all the pleasing duties he had had to perform during his term of service on the Council this gave him the greatest pleasure. It had ever been the unwritten law of the Council that the Mayor who should have a son born to him during his term of office should be presented with a silver cradle, and it- now devolved upon the present Council to observe that ancient law. When the proposal to present a cradle was mooted in the Council the heads of the departments wished to take the initiative, ho might almost to usurp the ancient privilege of the councillors. However, the councillors were firm in their determination that no one but themselves should present (he cradle. He requested the Mayoress (Mrs. Myers) to accept the cradle from the Council as an expression of their devotion to their Mayor in his office and of their respect for him personally as a kindly and courteous fellow-citizen. The councillors not only hoped, but were sure, he would be returned to office, and that he would inspire those over whom he would preside with the same good feeling and the same loyalty as had been such conspicuous features of his previous terms of office. Mr. Grey then called for three cheers for the Mayoress.

Mrs. Myers, stepping forward and bearing her son in her arms, said, " It is very kind indeed of you, I am sure, to present this beautiful gift. On behalf of my little son, I thank you very much. He will treasure it always as one of his most precious possessions."

The Mayor, in returning thanks on behalf of the Mayoress and himself, thanked tho councillors very heartily for their action iu carrying out the old and gracious custom of making this presentation to a Mayor who has the. good fortune to have a son born to him "during his term of office, and still more for the kindly words which accompanied the gift. One often heard of children being born with silver spoons in their mouths; his could claim the rarer distinction of having been born in a silver cradled* The cradle presented by the councillors would be preserved as an heirloom in the family, together with the caskets presented to Mrs. Myers' father when he received the freedom of the cities of Liverpool, Manchester, and Salford. He trusted that in after life its owner might show himself worthy of the honour conferred on him at the outset of his career, and of the many good wishes with which he had been welcomed. He (the Mayor) did not know whether the cradle might be taken as an omen that the child himself would one day attain to civic honours ; but nothing would give him greater pleasure than to live to see his son do so; and it would be his earnest endeavour to instil into his son's mind the consciousness that whatever position in life he might occupy the community had claims upon him. Taking an active part in public affairs was very far from being the only way in which a man could serve his fellow-citizens; and even if, when he reached maturity, this memento of his infancy should not lead the boy to aspire to the Mayoral chair, he trusted that it would always be an inspiration to him to strive to live as a worthy rrnd useful citizen, mindful of his duty alike to the city and country in which he anight live, and to the great Empire in which his birth entitled him to claim a part. Referring to his own terms of office, the Mayor said he could not lay claim to the prescience of Mr. Grey; but should he be returned to office as Mayor, he hoped to renew with the present members of the Council those happy relations that had existed for the past two years. There was a good deal of work yet to be done, but he thought the Council had no cause to regret the work already done. The future of Auckland was going to be a great future, but he sincerely hoped that the city would always be able to get the services of such a capable body of men as at present constituted the Council. In regard to the cradle itself, he thought, with tho knowledge of the many beautiful things he had seen in the great art collections of the Old World, that Auckland might well be proud that one of her citizens could produce such a beautiful piece of work. It was a revelation to him, for the cradle would do credit to any of the best artists in the Old Country.

Refreshments were served at the close of the ceremony.

The cradle and its setting forms a beautiful example of the silversmith's craft. It is distinctly New Zealand in design. A perfectly modelled tree-fern in silver affords 1 ample shade for the cradle, which is woven to represent wickerwork, and is suspended from a rustic bar resting on uprights, which suggest tea-tree trunks. Native clematis wrought in siver, and with gilt flowers, entwines the supports of the 'cradle. The whole rests upon a heavy silver plate simulating a grassy slope, and. this is carried on an ebony plinth, which bears the following inscription on a silver plate —Presented to Mrs. A. M. Myers, Mayoress of Auckland, by the city councillors, to commemorate the birth of a non to His Worship and the Mayoress on the fifth day of March, 1907." "The city coat of arms is conspicuously placed beneath the cradle, and is engraved upon a gilt medallion. Mr. A. Kohn, jeweller, was entrusted with the work.