Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1940. THE UNION JACK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 4, 16 October 1940, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1940. THE UNION JACK.

Ashburton has no need to wear its heart on its sleeve in the matter of demonstrating its patriotism, but the views of a visitor and those of a resident published yesterday are worthy of more than passing notice. 1 here is a lack of flag display in Ashburton, as there is throughout the Dominion, at the present time. When hostilities broke out a little over a year ago there was general enthusiasm of a patriotic nature, but events moved slowly; there was no battle of Mons to stir the imagination and fire the blood, no large scale engagements by sea, land or air such as those which filled the war news in the early days of the war in 1914, and it was said that this was a strange war. Since those days there have been great changes in the scene". But still New Zealand feels that it is only on the verge of war. Though our airmen have been in the thick of the combat the casualty lists which in the former war brought home to New Zealanders a full realisation of the magnitude of the task we were embarked on have not been forthcoming. When the war of 1914 broke out there were many instances in which firms and private individuals literally nailed flags to their masts, but this time there has been very little display of the flag. Indeed, there are some people in Ashburton who have placed flags on the walls of their homes, not that they need to be reminded of any patriotic duty to King or to country, but as a means of instilling in their children something of the glorious things the flag stands for, those ideals which have been handed to the British Empire as almost the last rampart of democracy and which the Empire will uphold against all odds. There is something more than tradition behind the showing of the flag by people of the Empire. Now is the time when the Union 4 Jack should be placed prominently in the home, the church, the theatre and on the sports ground, as a symbol to which everyone can pay homage and pause for a moment to think of all that it represents.