GIRDLERS’ COMPANY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 July 1940, Page 4

GIRDLERS’ COMPANY

LINK WITH NEW ZEALAND PRESENTATION OF LOVING CUP. MADE TO HIGH COMMISSIONER. (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) LONDON, July 23. The New Zealand High Commissioner. Mr W. J. Jordan, received from the Master of the Girdlers’ Company, Sir William Barber, a silver replica of a loving cup which has been in the Company’s possession for 300 years. Sir William Barber, in a speech, pointed out that New Zealand had adopted as her mother church in London, the Church of Saint Lawrence Jewry, which for centuries has been the mother church of the Girdlers’ Company, thus demonstrating a bond of sympathy existing between the Dominion and that ancient guild. Mr Jordan, in replying, said: “The Company gave us a lead in 1344, by principles which found expression in . New Zealand laws six centuries later, including that no one in trade shall work on Saturday, no one shall sell wares on Sunday, and inferior material shall not be used in the manufacture of wares.” He added that the cup would be placed in the library of the Dominion’s Houses of Parliament. The cup is 11 inches high, and the bowl has a matted ground. Four panels, recording the date of presentation / and reasons for the presentation, with y the names of Messrs Fraser and Jordan Sir William Barber and the wardens of the Company surruond the rosewood plinth. Those present included Mr W. J. Fraser, a brother of the New Zealand Prime Minister. The Girdlers' Company made a sash which the King wore at his coronation.