Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-11-25
NO MAYORAL KISSAT
BOURNEMOUTH'THIS YEAR
Special Correspondence Of The Star.
LONDON. November Is, 1912

LONDON. November 13, 1912
There is gloom in Bournemouth. Bourne
mouth has been done out Of its mayoral
kiss. to witness which each year partially
repays one for the misfortunes of being a
resident of that dull seaside town. Bourne
mouth is situated on the south coast of
England and is most famous as a resort
for invalids. Few pretty customs are
associated with the place. but the may
oral kiss assuredly belongs in that cate
CORY.
Each retiring mayor Of Bournemouth
bestows kiss upon his successor in Of
flee. thereby going counter to custom in
this country, where men do not osculate
with one another to any extent Across
the channel, as everybody knows, it is
different. 1t is the commonest thing in
the world to witness two Frenchmen or
Germans imprinting chaste salutes on
each others frequently heavily bearded
cheeks. Foreign monarchs, and diplo-
mats, too. make a practice of kissing,
and continental mayors may, for all that
one knows. But English ones don't, ex-
cept in Bournemouth.
X x
How long the Bournemouth mayors
have kissed nobody seems to know def
nitely. 1t is one Of those old customs
that have been handed down. The rea-
son why there was no kiss this year, by
the way. is that the mayor of 1911, S.
McCalmont Hill, succeeds himself, having
been chosen by his fellow aldermen for
another term. In England mayors are
not elected by the direct vote of the
people. but by the governing body of
the district-the board of aldermen or
borough council or what not-and their
term Of Office is only for one year.
All the English mayors and lord
mayors are chosen on the same day
which was Saturday last-and on that
day 325 Of them took office. Citizens of
Bournemouth who were disappointed at
not witnessing the mayoral kiss had oilly
to travel to other towns to see even more
amusing performances gone through with
in connection with the installation OF
mayor, according to the size of the
place.
AT High Wycombe the incoming mayor
is solemnly weighed in the presence of
the admiring populace. This year, as at
BOurnemOuth. the towns chief magis-
trate. Councillor Crate, was reelected,
and. accordingly was weighed over again,
being found to have gained exactly one
pound during his year Of Office, which
asys little for the gastrOnomic honors
AT Stockton-on-Tees, in accordance with
a 5OO-year-Old custom, the newly elected
mayor threw apples and nuts to the
crowd from the balcony of the town hall,
while at Brightlingsea his worship was
elected, in accordance with immemorial
custom, in the belfry of the parish
church.
X
At Grantham the incoming mayor has
to submit to being tapped on the head
with a hammer by the town clerk. while
the mayor of Lincoln is elected by plac-
ing on his finger an ancient ring, which
his predecessors have worn for centuries.
Should his worship send his ring to any
school in the city. the headmaster Is
bound to give his pupils a days holiday.
At Chichester the mayor is armed with
a gold-mounted malacca cane, while at
York his worship is equipped with a
gold-mounted oak stave. which has mark
ed his authority for centuries.
In London, that picturesque nuisance,
the lord mayors show, dislocated bust
ness in the city for whole day, as
usual, thrilling thousands Of country
cousins and amusing American residents
and those travellers who didn't go home
to vote. The new lord mayor of London,
Sir David Burnett. Is the sod who has
held that Office. He has the authority, II
he cares to use it, to close Temple bar