THE LORD MAYOR

Hokitika Guardian, 23 December 1932, Page 6

THE LORD MAYOR

A PICTURESQUE figure

YOUNG AT SEVENTY-SEVEN

SYDNEY, December 15

Sydney's new Lord Mayor for 1932, '771 German ,R. C. Hagon, is 77 years of age, but he has achieved renir.rkab.t success with his only hobby, that ,f) f keeping young. Keeping young io not a sideline with him, but has always b?en a full time job, and in point, of servlet to th 8 city he certainly deserves the hig honour that has been bestou> o upon him. It was not his fi rs t attempt to secure selection. Ton years ago lx was in the .mining, and failed. He baboon iir the running on several occasions since, and this year it took toe Reform Aldermen, who dominate the City Council, six and a half hours of steady wrangling and balloting before they decided that H} should l>e the First Citizen. So if Was no walk-over for hm. However, he po-rsegses the philosophy of a man of 21, and dearly Lives a fight. Alderman Hagon says he grows younger he grows older, and he often wonder,s what it would be -dm to he an old man. Reis a ma if who ha.s 'developed with t'lujtimes, j ’'ere is nothing old-fashioned about his methods or bis ideas: He i* the proprietor of a big tailoring establishment in the city, and he is regarded a s the Beau Brummel of iib“ Tovra Hall. H<° stops more lightly than any of hb fellow aldermen and has a suit f° r every day of die week. At 77 he says he is going to Center a s wholeheartedly into his' new task as if he were.2l.* He i« going to leave Ms busi. ness to The tender cares of others. and for a whole year he is going to devote hi-« time and interest to thp city with a vigour that would be lenvied by niun\ a man years his junior

Thoro is punch in lijs ideas. Never does he «ay, “Dto- .nek destroy that old landmark.” If an old landmark is in the way of progress he world remove it. He lvad been the forte behind several street widening schemes, and with him in the chair it is certain that the extension of Martin nlace in the heart cf the city—a work that lias been delayed for years—will 1 e pushed ahead. He Wants to make Sydney a better city, and lie wants to see a full measure of civic pride. In that direction he can he depended upon to exercise an uplifting influence. Although opposed to 'the ideals of the Labour Party lip is by no means a conservative. He may turn out to be a little too radical fc.r some, but above all he will be for the cjtv.