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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3671, 20 April 1883, Page 2

The banks will be closed on Monday in honor of an ancient party by the mime of St. George. This celebrated individual was bom in Cappadocia of pool", and, most probably, dishonest parents. On arriving at man's estnte George went to Alexandra and made himself known as a fawning sycophant, and, in reward for his flattery, the major commanding the district at that period gave him a contract to supply the army with bacon. George was then in his element. He cheated and waxed exceeding , rich. With wealth at command George mixed with the upper circles of society, who did not enquire into his antecedents; he dashed into politics, and iuto the religious feuds of the day, and botli politics and religion ran high at that time. Between George and others Alexandra was made too hot for Archbishop Athanasius, whose creed everybody so much admires, and on that notable man being driven out of the city, George, of all people in the world, was elevated to the vacant episcopal throne by ' the prevailing religions faction. How long he figured as a Prince of the Church nobody seems to know, but, succeeding in making himself unpopular with the ruling powers and with the people, he was cast into prison. The people, however, were not inclined to wait for the slow process of a judicial investigation into George's crimes, so they broke into the gaol and lynched the prisoner. It docs not seem quite clear as to when George was " sainted," but in the time of the Crusades he was remembered as St. George and honored as having killed, a dragon in defence of a king's daughter. It is fair to state that some people have traversed this story, but Gibbon, the historian, refers to St. George as the fraudulent bacon contractor. Hence the banks honor George's memory.