LONDON'S NEW LORD MAYOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14525, 12 November 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

LONDON'S NEW LORD MAYOR.

ANCIENT ELECTION CEREMONIES.

SIR VEZEY STRONG ELECTED.

Duties of the most important character will devolve upon the Lord Mayor' of London next year, and more than usual interest accordingly attached to the election of a successor to Sir John Knill. The election was conducted with all the elaborate ceremonial which has been handed down in the city for centuries. A large crowd assembled near the Guildhall, outside which was a wooden erection with a series of gates. Only liverymen entitled to vote and other privileged persons were admitted to the building, and each liveryman had to pass through his proper gateway, where the beadle of his company, in robes of office, was present to identify him. Inside the great hall were the hustings. The platform at the end was barricaded, and the boarding and steps were strewn with herbs, a sanitary precaution, dating back from the year of the plague. Heralded by a fanfare by the city trumpeters, the civic procession arrived at about a-quarter to eleven from the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, recorder, and sheriffs being in black Court suits and scarlet gowns. After a reception another procession was formed, the city officials in full dress being followed by the sheriffs, the aldermen below the chair, the aldermen above the chair, and, finally, the Lord Mayor's representative (Sir Joseph Savory), each with a nosegay. The Lord Mayor, being a Roman Catholic, was not present. The procession walked to the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry, where a service was conducted by the rector, the Rev. J. Stephen Rarrass. The sermon was preached by the Lord Mayor's chaplain (Canon Rhodes Bristow) on the text, " Let not him that girdeth on his armour boast himself as he that pntteth it off." The " Common Hall" for the election of Lord Mayor opened at noon, the Lord Mayor presiding. The chief crier having ordered "all those who are not liverymen to depart the hall on pain of imprisonment," the proceedings were formally opened " for the election of a fit and able person to be Lord Mayor of this city for the year ensuing." Two names were submitted, namely, those of Sir Vezey Strong and Sir Thomas Crosby. Sir Robert Rogers, a common councilman, rose from the ranks of the liverymen, and said that this time last year he put some questions to the Lord Mayor as to attendance at St. Paul's Cathedral and other places of worship, according to custom. His. lordship refused to attend except at the command of the Sovereign, but he did in full civic state attend Roman Catholic places of worship. That fact had given great pain and dissatisfaction to liverymen and citizens generally. In these days of too readily surrendering great and valuable principles by compromises and evasions, it was quite time that the liverymen and citizens spoke out in clear and unmistakable terms. They must insist on the Lord Mayor acting in accord with the

PRACTICE OF SO MANX CENTTTRIES, Sir Robert Rogers asked Sir Vezey Strong if he were of the Protestant faith, and Sir Vezey Strong replied in the affirmative. Sir R. H. Rogers :If elected will you undertake to attend St. Paul's Cathedral and other churches on ceremonial occasions, according to ancient custom? Sir Vezey Strong : I will. Sir Robert: And will you, if elected, abstain from attending in state places of worship unconnected with the Protestant faith Sir Vezey Strong : 1 will not. The Lord MayorElect explained that it was quite conceivable that during the year of office of any occupant of the chair a foreign King might die, a service at the Embassy in London or the country of that King might be held, at which it might be thought proper that the Lord Mayor should attend. He would unhesitatingly attend such a service. He would desire, if elected, to be the servant of all, and exclude none, and he would not allow religious beliefs to make the least possible difference in placing his services at their disposal. If other circumstances tendered attendance desirable, he would attend any service, from one in a Roman Catholic Cathedral to one in the barracks of the Salvation Army. On the name of Sir Vezey Strong being sabmitted, there was a general show of hands. Alderman Sir Thomas Crosby was the next candidate, and his name was received with cries of " Next year." A procession thea left the hall to confer "-with the Court of Aldermen, and on its return it was announced, amidst cheering, that the choice of the Court of Aldermen had fallen on Sir Thomas Vezey Strong, who was accordingly declared duly elected Lord Mayor. Returning thanks for the " gratifying unanimity" of his election, the Lord Mayor-Elect said it would be his endeavour to do everything possible to uphold the prestige of the city.

THE XEW LORD MAYOR. Alderman Sir Vezey Strong has been a member of the City Corporation for more than 10 years. He is the representative of the Queenhitho ward. A lifelong abstainer and an ardent worker in the temperance cause, Sir Vezey is a past master of the Stationers' and Plumbers' Companies, a representative of the city on the Metropolitan Water Board, chairman of the London Temperance Hospital, a director of the United Kingdom Temperance and General Provident Institution, and an officer of the French Legion of Honour. He was senior sheriff in 1904-5, when he was knighted. Although a strong temperance man himself, he will not exclude wine from the Guildhall banquets, believing, as he does, in extending the same liberty to others'which he claims for himself.