CZECH CONSUL HAS NO FLAG

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 28 October 1941, Page 4

CZECH CONSUL HAS NO FLAG

TAKEN BY FORMER GERMAN OFFICIAL Auckland, Oct., 27. Because the only Czechoslovak flag l in his possession was among the articles confiscated by a former Consul-General for Germany in New Zealand, Herr Ernst C. Ramm, immediately after the Germans had marched into Czechoslovakia in March, 1939, the Counsul for Czechoslovakia in Auckland. Mr R. M. Algie. will be un[able to fly the flag to morrow, the Czechoslovak national uay. Mr Algie believes that the flag, together with the archives of the consulate and a photograph of the then President, Professor Msaryk, all of which were taken by Herr Ramm, were sent to Berlin. Mr Algie said that when the Germans entered Czechoslovakia, the German authorities in Prague forced the Czechs to send instructions out for the handing over of their consulates. He received from the Consulate-General in Sydney instructions to hand over his archives to the German ConsulGeneral in New Zealand. "The German representative called at 9 o'clock next morning and took the [archives and the flag, too,” Mr Algie added. “He even went so far as to take the photograph of the President, and 1 should say that, in accordance with practice, he would send them to Berlin." Mr Algie added that Herr Ramm had adopted an uncompromising attitude and had refused a request to leave the President’s photograph. "He was a typical German bureau crat,” he added. "He was the type of man who clicked his heels and then stood strictly to attention when speaking. Anyhow, the result of his call that morning is that we have no flag to fly.”—P.A.