FLAGS FLYING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 296, 14 December 1936, Page 3

FLAGS FLYING.

IN THE CITY TO-DAY. HONOUR OF GEORGE VI. THE NAVY NOT "DRESSED." To-day, for the second time in one ' year, British ships in world ports, build - i ings in cities throughout the Empire, I and British buildings in foreign cities, ■ are bedecked with flags in honour of the birthday of the Sovereign. 31 is a most rare occurrence in British history i that two Kings should have reigned in* one year, and for their birthdays, having fallen within the single year, to have been honoured in the traditional way. "While all the ships of the. mercantile marine are "dressed," and will be until sundown, the units of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy to-day are not so decorated. Usually on the King's Birthday the naval units are gay with bunting; but to-day is different. By an extraordinary coincidence the Proclamation of the Accession of the new King is to be read 011 his birthday; and instructions have been issued by the Admiralty that on this special occasion, 1 i and for this reason. His Majesty's ships are not to be dressed. For the rest, Auckland, like other cities of the British Commonwealth, ; follow the usual custom. The King's ; Birthday is the one day in each year [ when bunting lifts itself from most of i the principal buildings. A view from f the top floor of the "Star" office shows . flags everywhere, the tall masts that s normally rise thin and unadorned to cut ■ the skyline to-day being capped to . honour the King. The tall mast in . Albert Park, where once the barracks . stood, crowns the city. Seen from far away, it looks as though a pocket liand- [ kerchief of bine flutters there at its , I summit, away, and high up. For the most part, either the flag of this Dominion, the blue background with the Southern Cross superscribed, or the 1 Union .Tack itself, is the emblem: but . from the grey tower of St. Matthew's 7 flutters the Cross of St. George, the usual • flag for a church to fly on a special occasion. Some of the flairs look as though they had seen the birthdays of countless Kings. They arc old. stained and weather-beaten, rairgcd of edge, some of them even patched. Others, again, are new; but the point is that they all stand for the same tiling. When the flags were reared this morning there was sufficient breeze for them to belly out and hold their shape against the sky; but with the middle of the morning, and the coming of the eclipse, the wind fell away. Then did the flags drooo languidly, a formless shape, falling like a cloak of many colours. Tll the queer half-light of the eclipse thev took on a strange guise, and a peculiar colour. From the street red seemed to fade i-ifn blue and both ■"to wliito until the Union .Tack sc"""d almost drab. And then the eclinse passed; a little breeze freshened. The •hndow nnssed from the sun and the fla?s. The Union .Tack was no longer a drab, formless shape.