LEGION OF HONOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23082, 6 July 1938, Page 15

LEGION OF HONOUR

GRANT TO THE MAYOR COURTESIES TO FRANCE EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE The Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis, received official notification yesterday that the Cross of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour had been conferred upon him by the President of the French Republic. The notification is contained in the following letter from the Consul for France in Wellington, M. Andre Pouquet:— "I have the honour to inform you that, by a decree of April 2 last, made on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the President of the Republic has been pleased to confer 011 you the Cress of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. "In this way M. Albert Lebrun desires to recognise the sympathetic understanding which you have invariably displayed toward our country in your private capacity, quite as much as the courtesies you have always extended as Mayor of Auckland to the Consuls for France who have resided in that city, and the commanders of French warships which have visited the port froni time to time. "Ho has boon pleased, also, in decorating the first magistrate of your delightful city, publicly to acknowledge his keen sense of gratitude for the friendly welcomes, so characteristic of New Zealand's hospitality, which the city has afforded to my predecessors in office, myself and all my felloweountrvmen who have had occasion to stay there." Sir Ernest Davis said yesterday that, while appreciating the honour, he preferred to regard it more as a compliment to the City of Auckland than as a recognition of personal service. The Legion of Honour, the only order of France, was instituted by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, and in its higher grades ranks in estimation with the highest European orders. It consists of five grades:—Grand cross, zraml officer, commander, officer and chevalier, or knight. The first four are limited in number, but the limitation does not applv to foreign recipients. The order has previously been conferred on New Zealanders, including certain officers who served in the Great War.