LORD MAYOR OF LONDON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19221, 9 January 1926, Page 2 (Supplement)

LORD MAYOR OF LONDON.

*■ v A VETERAN SECRETARY. SERVED UNDER FIFTY CHIEFS. Sir William Soulsby, who became secretary to the Lord Mayor of London by what he himself calls "a sort of acciuont," entered recently on his 51st year of service in that capacity. Looking nack on his record, he refuses to regard it "as anything out of the common." "The only unique feature about my work at the M'angion House," he said, "is that I have /bad 50 different chiefs. That, however, is a much less difficult proposition than to have had one .chief in 50 •years. ' "It was really a sort of accident which diverted me, two years after I had been called to the bar, into the secretarial career which I have pursued ever since. A friend ot- mine, Mr. Alderman Cotton, M.P., became Lord Mayor in 1875, and he persuaded me- to Join his official staff for tho year as private secretary. I was invited by his successor to regain and have been regularly reappointed ever since. "When I went., to the Mansion House .first in 1875, everybody used quill pens, evorv letter written was sealed with red or black Wax, and "the. old copying presses which ;wore, in use resembled the steering gear, of a penny steamboat.' . "Tubes, telephones, taxis, motors, and aeroplanes were unknown. A single balloon over London caused the greatebt commotion and not a little alarm.

"In these bygone days I travelled daily to the city and back on the knifeboard of a two-horsed omnibus. If tube mileage was a qualification for admission to the Travellerfi' Club I would be certain for election, for I have journeyed daily on the Central London Railway since it was opened by King Edward in 1900." The ver,eran private secretary is blessed with a wonderful constitution, but he takes no exercise.

"I am proud of the fact that I have never been a day away from business owing to illness. The only ailment from which I have suffered was an attack of tonsilitis, and that was due to oversmoking during an annual holiday. "I take no exercise, and I have no sporting propensities. lam quite unashamed to admit that I have never witnessed a football match or a round of golf." Naturally Sir William Soulsby has a great regard for the dignity and importance of the position of Lord Mayor of London.

"I say emphatically that greater importance and influence than formerly attaches to the office of Lord Mayor now both at home and abroad. The city has been fortunate in having had a long line nf public-spirited men who have devoted their abilities and their wealth to the interests of the community."