BURIAL OF THE BRITISH FLAG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6261, 10 December 1881, Page 7

BURIAL OF THE BRITISH FLAG.

The Transvaal Argus contains a long account of a foolish ceremony which took place recently in Pretoria. A number of Englishmen there had decided to "commit to the earth the emblem of their country's greatness." This was regarded as "a solemn and emphatic protest against the treatment which British subjects and the British flag has received at the hands of the British Government.'' The funeral was arranged to take place as nearly as possible at the time when it was expected that the Convention would be signed. A vehicle draped witli black was provided, drawn by two horses clothe! in sables. Inside the carriage a raised platform was placed to receive the collin, upon the lid of which the following inscription was placed :—" In Loving Memory of the British Flag in the Transvaal, who Departed this Life on Aug. -2, ISSI, in her Fifth Year. 'In other climes none knew tliee but to love thee.' Resurgam. , ' Tlie coffin which contained the flag was placed npon the platform provided, amid the deepest silence and the uncovered heads of the people assembled. About 350 white people followed the hearse, and a large number of Kaffir chiefs and their retinue fell in, making the total number about GOO in the procession. On arrival at the grave the cotlin was taken from the hearse and lowered into the place prepared for it, "with the greatest reverence and decorum," and an oration was delivered referring to the glorias associated with the British flag for a thousand years—a flag now "laid low in the dust, wounded to the heart by an unkind thrust, shorn of a portion of her honour." At the head of the grave was placed a tombstone bearing the same inscription as that on the coffin.