BRITAIN'S HIGH SHERIFFS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1013, 31 December 1910, Page 3

BRITAIN'S HIGH SHERIFFS.

AN ODD , CEREMONY. One of the signs of prosperous times, more especially, among the class . whose income is drawn from agricultural rents and products (writes Sir; H. W. Lucy), is the diminution of the volume of excuses from calls to .serve as High Sheriff. ■ The, post is one.of great dignity, tho i incumbent •' beinjj' a direct' representative of the -Crown. But it involves considerable expenditure, and about the time*the quaint ceremony known ins pricking ' the sheriffs- approaches there .is a general scuttle to get out of the way.; This year,, I am told, there '.was displayed something -approaching eagerness to accept the-of-fice. Tho ceremony 'of nomination is exceedingly old . and very quaint. Last Friday, being St. ' Martin's -Day, thero rjet in' the Court, of the Queen's Bench Division of tho High Court of Justice certain eminent personages. They included the Lord President of tho Council, the Chancellor of' the Exchequer, the' Lord Chancellor, three or-four Judges, and 'tlie Clerk of Council. With two exceptions the Court nominates three gentlemen for the office of sheriff for each county in England and 'Wales. The exceptions are Lancashire —the King himself, as Duke of Lancaster, nominating the Sheriff; and Cornwall —the Prince of Wales, as Duke of the county, exercising the . function. For tbe rest, the three names for each county, being engrossed, upon a parchment rjpll, were submitted to the King, who, with a golden bodkin, pricked a name, tho owner of which in the Hilary term, which begins on January 11, will become Sheriff of his county. By odd .but convenient coincidence, the- name pricked by his Majesty is always the first on tho list. ■