THE UNION JACK

Evening Star, Issue 22639, 4 May 1937, Page 7

THE UNION JACK

HOW TO HOIST IT ON CORONATION DAY RIGHT WAY AND WRONG Flags will soon be flapping gaily on. every mast in Dunedin in honour of the Coronation of King George VI. .It is hoped that they will be flapping the right way up, and not, as is only too often the case, upside-down. Recently it has been observed that numbers of business houses are evidently unaware that tho Union Jack has a distinct top and bottom, or if they are aware of it, do not know which is which. A study of the accompanying illustration, however, should prevent further errors. To hoist the Union Jack upside-down' is to proffer, not a compliment, but contumely, to King George on thin momentous occasion. It will'be readily perceived from the illustration that tho diagonal red stripes on the part of the flag nearest

tlie mast have the broad border of white uppermost, and that in consequence the upper edge of the flag begins with a strip of white. As long as attention is paid to this,detail the flag will be correctly hoisted. At eight it appears to be an easy thing to; haul up a flag correctly, but a slight mistake may well prove a shocking breach of etiquette. This was shown a year or so ago, when in all good faith the battery on Point Jerningham, Wellington, greeted a visiting warship with, not a friendly salute of greeting, but a gesture of defiance.

The reason for the aseymetric form of the Union Jack lies in its origin. Tho flag is, of course, the Great Union flag, commemorating the union of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1801. It is formed, therefore, of tbe_ national flags of these three countries—Saint George’s cross, gules, on a field argent, Saint Andrew’s silver saltire on an azure field, and St. Patrick’s saltire, gules, on a field argent, in the jargon of heraldry. The blue background and broad white diagonals are St. Andrew’s cross, tho emblem of Scotland. _ Over this is superimposed the red diagonal cross of St. Patrick of Ireland, with a narrow white border to show its original ground. Oh. top of all is placed the broad red cross of St. George, also with a white border to indicate the original “ field argent.”

Had the St. Patrick’s cross ben placed immediately over that of ■ St. Andrew it would technically have obliterated it, and given Scotland a standing grievance in being inadequately represented on the national flag. As it is, it has had a curious effect in that the St. Patrick’s cross has been distorted'—the red diagonals, if continued across the centre of the flag, would not meet in a proper cross at all.

Besides being the national flag of the British Empire, the Union Jack is the most important of British ensigns, flown by representatives of government the world over. The GovernorGeneral of India flies if with the Star of India in the centre. Colonial Governors fly it with the badge of the colony in the middle. Consuls fly it with the Royal Arms in the middle. It flies over fortresses and camps and barracks, and) from the jacketaff .of every British warship, and hoisted to the masthead of a raan-o’-war it is. the flag of an Admiral of the fleet. It is the most widely-distributed andi wellknown of all national emblems, because it is the flag of the greatest Empire; the world has so_ far seen, and it is an object of sufficient veneration to be flown the right way up by the people of a British dominion on the day their King is crowned at Westminster.