SOUTH AFRICAN FLAG.

Evening Star, Issue 19349, 8 September 1926, Page 6

SOUTH AFRICAN FLAG.

Great Britain apparently is only putty, brass, and paint for General Hertzog. It is not practicable for the South African party that he represents to “ chuck her,” hut he draws an elaborate distinction between Great Britain, with whom his Boor fellow Nationals waged a past war, and the British Commonwealth of Nations, of which she is part. He admits, he has said, the relationship of South Africa with the British Commonwealth, and hopes it will long continue, but that does not justify the incorporation of the Union Jack in the Union’s flag. The Union Jack, he has declared, is the flag of Britain, and is only historically connected with the dominions. The distinction is illogical. Tho Union Jack has become the flag of the Empire—of “ what is called the British Empire,” in General Hcrtzog’s loss than affectionate phrase. For that matter, the South African War, which still rankles in the memory of the Dutch Premier, was a groat deal of an Empire war. New Zealanders, Australians, and Canadians all fought in it, besides the “ rooi-baatjes,” though the only thought which they have had since, colonials and " rooi-baatjes ” alike, has been to shake hands and forget that old unpleasantness. Like the Bourbons, and unlike tho best minds among his countrymen, General Hertzog forgets nothing—or, rather, he forgets the one thing which he would do well to remember: that, if Great Britain destroyed tho independence of the Boers, it, was Great Britain who gave them theTr present position in South Africa, and made it possible for this Dutch reactionary to be the Prime Minister of the Union. General Hertzog will not have any reminder of tho Union Jack incorporated in the new flag, emblem of independence, which, with the assistance of British »Laborites who care as little for their own country’s traditions, he is determined to force upon South Africa. To the inclusion of the crown in it, symbolising the commonwealth as a whole, he will have no objection. But new flags do not so easily obtain allegiance, and if the Pact Government perseveres in this attempt there will be trouble in South Africa. At the Imperial Conference, General Hertzog has proclaimed, he will not ask for a written dominion Constitution, but ho will urge that stops should be taken to ensure that South Africa’s status shall he equal to that of Britain and any other dominion entitled to international recognition. The equality has in theory been conceded. In practice it is faced still with tho old difficulty, which more than General Hortzog’s wit may he taxed to overcome, that when two ride on a horse ono must ride behind.