Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/70

 give away the prizes. It was in mid-ocean in 1907 that he discovered on board ship an Old Boy in Mr Kennerly Rumford, who, with his wife, Clara Butt, was on his way to tour Australia, and together they dispatched a marconigram to King's School on the occasion of some school festivity.

Like all pocket boroughs, Canterbury was not entirely free from the charges of bribery and cor- ruption. There are alive to this day old men who can recall the happy times when the tables in the Committee Rooms were spread with golden sovereigns, while the sitting Member gazed tactfully out of the window with a pleasant word over his shoulder, "Help yourselves. Gentlemen, help yourselves." The rival candidate wore an overcoat with immense pockets, and it was an understood thing that the free and independent electors who walked on either side of him were at liberty to thrust their hands into the gaping pockets in search of the gold with which they were lined.

Such halcyon days cannot, however, last for ever, and there came an evil hour when the then Member was unseated on petition. As a result of the inquiries, bribery was found to be so widespread that for a period of seven years the ecclesiastical capital of the Empire was disfranchised.

This was the situation at Canterbury when, the seven years being at an end, H. H. was elected as Conservative Member. Needless to say, his party was anxious to avoid any suspicion of bribery, and during the weeks preceding the election Lady H. H. was asked not to allow her servants to buy even half a yard of ribbon in the town.

If, in those days, Canterbury was out of favour