ROBES OF OFFICE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 May 1938, Page 6

ROBES OF OFFICE

REJECTED BY NEW MAYOR OF CHRISTCHURCH EVEN RED LINING FAILS TO APPEAL , (By Telegraph —Press Association). CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The Labour mayor-elect, Mr R. M. Macfarlane, will not wear the robes of office. Despite the plea of the retiring mayor, Mr J. W. Beanland, with whom he discussed this question, Mr Macfarlane is not to be persuaded into appearing in the robes, and the town clerk, Mr J. S. Neville, will have to wrap them in' moth balls preparatory to placing them in storage for at least another three years. Even the fact that the robe is lined with red does not in any way deter Mr Macfarlane from his determination. He will wear the chain of office, but the only other concession he will make to mayoral dignity is the purchase of one of those sober hats known as “buns” or “hardhitters.” The mayoral robes have had only a brief airing during the past 12 years. The Hon J. K. Archer, M.L.C., never wore them at all during his six years of office. The Hon D. G. Sullivan, who was Mr Archer’s successor, wore them only once, and then it took the efforts of a number of persuasive people to induce him to appear in them. The one occasion in these 12 years of Labour occupancy of the mayoral chair that the robes appeared was when Mr Sullivan welcomed the Duke of Gloucester to Christchurch in 1935.