CHOICE OF FLAG

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 25 May 1927, Page 5

CHOICE OF FLAG

SOUTH AFRICAN DISPUTE. OBJECTIONS TO UNION JACK. A NATIONALITY QUESTION. BY CABLE —PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. Capetown. May 23. Interest in the second Tending of the Ping Bill is unprecedented. Every corner of the gallery is being filled. The Hon. Dr D. F. Malan, Minister of the Interior, in explaining the Bill, first dealt with the nationality clauses, which required three years’ residence, emphasising that every South African -must be British, but 'not every Briton need be South African. The point which the Opposition emphasised was that the law meant the disfranchisement of a number of British subjects. 'Dr Malan challenged the Opposition to name a single free, independent nation without its own national flag. I)r Malan replied that what was possible* in Australia and New Zealand was not necessarily possible in South Africa. They had an altogether different history. "In most other Dominions," he said, "the Union Jack stands for constitutional development. In South Africa, the Union Jack stands for conquest." If the Union was included in the Irish flag ‘ disunion would have continued. In concluding, he said: "I cannot forget that our independent status could not have been accomplished without the full approval of "British statesmen. When the Union Jack flies on certain days denoting the link with the British Commonwealth, it will fly with the consent of the Dutch and British people." Sir T. Smartt, who led the Opposition,. roused the House by declaring that every argument against the retention of the Union .Jack could, at some future period, be used against the retention of the English language. He pledged English people’s loyalty to the flag combining the Union Jack with the old Republican flags. The Dutch and English, who established an imperishable record in the Great War under the Union Jack, he said, were now entitled to live under it. He appealed to General Hertzog to put the good of the country before party. Mr Hay, the Labour member who defeated General Smuts at Pretoria, denounced the proposed flag referendum as "a loaded dice."