The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1886. THE PROPOSED MAYORAL CHAIN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1344, 17 September 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1886. THE PROPOSED MAYORAL CHAIN.

In this excessively utilitarian age people are disposed to sneer at everything which is not severely practical, and to regard with a lofty contempt all that savors of the ideal and sentimental. It is the fashion to be iconoclastic and it is supposed to be evidence of superior wisdom to be ready to destroy all the idols of the past, and with them all traces of veneration for that which is ancient, to tear away from all dignities the symbols of office, from the trappings of royalty to the uniform of the parish beadle. Your practical man, indeed, prides himself upon his contempt for such frippery and laughs to scorn the notion that any virtue can attach to or any good result come from the things which he despises. But this severity of “ practicalism ” —to coin a word —may be pushed too far, indeed is pushed too far by the average colonial. For it is not wise to lose sight of the fact that (as Sam Slick puts it) “ there is a good deal of human nature ’” in humanity generally, and that even “ humbug ” (to quote another American writer) possesses “ a vally ” of its own. To say that all such things as compose the paraphernalia of office come under the denomination of “ humbug ” is therefore not necessarily to prove that they are altogether useless —on the,contrary, the assumption is rather the other way, for it is an undenirable truism that half the world is continually engaged in humbuging the other half, and that the other half likes the process and pays handsomely and cheerfully for it. For these reasons, then, we are not disposed to laugh at the suggestion which has been made that now that the Municipality has provided its Chief Magistrate with a Mayoral chain, Ashburton shpuld follow the example set by the premier city of the plains and institute also a Mayoral chair. Christchurch established this badge of office many years ago and each of the worshipful gentlemen who has in turn presided at the Council of the Cathedral city has added his link as a golden memento of his year of office. By this time it has become intrinsically of great value, besides representing literally a chain of associations and reminiscences which courts for far more than is represented by its actual weight of the precious metal, and, as years roll by, it will become an heirloom to which the greatest possible historical interest will attach. And if this be so in connection with the premier city we do not see why Ashburton should not in her turn follow the example of her elder sister. True, it is the day of small things with us at present, but there is a future before us we verily believe as great and as bright as that which lies before our northern neighbors and there is no good reason why we too should not start our Mayoral claim. As we have already said, the suggestion is not in the first instance, our own—it has been made by some of the citizens, if not actually at the Council board, and having been asked for an opinion we comply by cordially endorsing the proposal. Possibly the gentleman who new so worthily fills the portion of Chief Magistrate will see his way to take the hint and the initiative together.