Another link in mayoral chain

By ELIZABETH BINNING


A small gold plate with Dick Hubbard's name engraved on it will be the 38th to be added to the 114-year-old Auckland mayoral chain.

The chain, worn during council meetings and official council business, date back to 1890 when the then mayor, John Upton, donated the first gold plate.

Mr Upton's name and two years of service were engraved on to the 15 carat plate which was then linked to a gold Maltese Cross with the inscription "Auckland City Council 1871". The details of 10 previous mayors were added.

With the swearing in of each mayor a new gold plate, changed to nine carats in 1920, has been added.

This week the chain, which now weighs 878g and is estimated to be worth tens of thousands of dollars, is being cleaned at John Howells Jewellers, Mt Eden.

Mr Howells said the links had become so muddled a few years ago that he had to completely relink all the plates. They now lie in three rows, linked at the front by the Maltese Cross.

Incoming mayor Dick Hubbard will get his first glimpse of the chain when he is sworn in next Thursday night at the Aotea Centre.

Despite a preference for the informal, he says he will wear them at council meetings: "I'd be a bit reluctant to break tradition."

The mayoral robes were introduced in the early 1900s when Sir John Logan Campbell was mayor.