TEETOTAL LORD MAYOR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10132, 5 December 1910, Page 7

TEETOTAL LORD MAYOR.

For the iir.-i time in history a teetotaller has been elected Lord Mayor of London, and the unprecedented event created a mild sensation in civic circles and a rather stronger sensation in the mineral water trade. Sir Thomas Vezey Strong, the gentleman on Avhom has fallonllie honour, wns promptly overwhelmed with circulars and samples of -.lion-intoxicating ne,veragos. no conlicled to nn mtei viewer the interesting tact that most m them Jig had never heard of, and he had no intention of running the risk of poisoning his guests with the strange concoctions ottered tor jus approbation. Although he js a teetotaller, Sir Thomas is not a drinker of '•son stuff," nor is ho particularly attached to water. His favourite liquids hitherto have been tea and coltee, and he does not wuiik ho is nicely to transfer his allegiance to some new beverage at his time of life. "When he occupied the position of sheritf, ho got through all right as a total abstainer, and no anticipates no uw..enlty of doing so again in the highest and'more diilicult olhce of .Lord Mayor. Commenting <<n the new Lord Mayor's election, Sir -Henry Lucy, in'his letter to the Sydney Morning remarks that considering the principal raison d'etre of the Mansion House is its lavish hospitality, the teetotal principles of its new occupant may prove a little awkward. One of the immemorial customs of Mansion House banquets is the circulation of the loving cup, but Sir Henry ; Lucy thinks that if the dilemma should.lead to an abolition of the ceremony, there are few habitual guests aTi the Mansion House who would regret it. The loving cup is carried round the fable, and the guests handle it in sections of three. A, having received the mp from the guest on his right, turns about. Holding it by both hands he bows to B. B, returning the salute, lifts the lid of the great silver cup. A drinks, wipes the rim with a serviette, and hands the cup to B, who, turning round, finds C ready with the due ceremony to lift the lid. And so on until the long round is made. Tradition says that the reason why it is etiquette for A to remain standing while B, with his back to him, drinks, is that in the days of long ago there was the danger that while B was engrossed with the contents of the loving cup, eomeone might pay off old scores by sticking a dagger into his back. That undesirable contingency is guarded against by A standing watching until B has tasted of the cup.