USE OF FLAGS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22724, 10 May 1937, Page 6

USE OF FLAGS

I SOME GUIDING KULES MISTAKES' COMMONLY MADE THE ROYAL STANDARD GENERAL USE BARRED Whenever large numbers of flags are flown ashore on national festivals, many mistakes are made, -mostly unwittingly, r , but sometimes through the same sort of carelessness that allows faded and tattered flags to be displayed, j The use of flags at sea by all classes of vessels, down to small yachts, is governed by very strict rules which the } Navy and other authorities are at some pains to enforce. On land very much more latitude is allowed. However, there are certain accepted rules and customs which everyone who flies bunting should endeavour to observe. The Royal Standard, bearing the arms of England, Ireland and Scotland, is the personal flag of the reigning Sovereign, and may not be flown except I over a building in which he is present for the time being. Its use in New Zealand at the time of the Coronation is therefore barred. All May Fly Union Jack The national flag of the whole British Empir# is the "Union Jack, or, as it is more properly termed, the Union Flag. Attempts have been made at times to restrict its use ashore to the fighting services, but the question has been settled in recent years by j official pronouncements to the effect | that every British subject ashore is I entitled to fly the Union Jack. In a despatch to the British Consul at Chifu., China, in 1906, the Foreign I Office ruled that "the Union Jack may be flown as an indication of nationality by all British subjects." Two years later the Marquess of Crewe, Secretary K of State for the Colonies, stated in the | House of Lords: " The Union Jack should be regarded as the national flag and undoubtedly may be flown on land by His Majesty's subjects." In June, 1933, the Home Secretary said : " The Union Flag is the national flag and may properly be flown by any British subject on land." There is, too, a letter from the private secretary to King Edward VII. stating that the British citizen "can always fly 4:he I Union Jack.", | It is important, in hoisting the i .Union Jack, to see that the broad diagonal white, stripe, representing St. f Andrew's Cro£s, meets the upper edge of the flag close to the halyard; otherwise the flag is upside-down. | j National and Other Ensigns In Xew Zealand, every civilian ashore is entitled to ! fly the national ensign, consisting of the Blue Ensign with the Southern Cross on the fly. This right is, of'course, supplemental to that of flying the Union Jack. The White, Blue and Bed Ensigns are often to be seen over buildings in ! the Dominion on festal occasions. { Their use does not appear to be for- ; bidden by aqy rule, but authorities i hold that as they are the distinctive ; flags of the Royal Navy, the Royal : Naval Reserve and the Mercantile Marine, it is preferable that- the Union Jack or the New Zealand Ensign i should be usefd instead. The same is true of the New Zealand Merchant Jack, which consists of the Red I Ensign with the Southern Cross on the fly. This is sometimes flown in the be- | lief that it is the National Ensign. - Form of the Union Jack It is not generally known that the "Union Jack in its present customary I form does not' comply with the proclaim raation of union in ISOI, which laid I down, that all the crosses should be of \ the same width, but in the pattern j now adopted St. Patrick's cross is given insufficient prominence, while the cross of St. . George is wider than specified. Students of the subject con- '{• eider that the national flag as correctly 1 made/ would not be so artistic, but the symbolism would be more pleasing. On at ieast two occasions the Union Jack, not made according to conven- ; tion, has been? an inspiration in time of stress. On the North-West Frontier ; of India in 1895, Sir George Robertson was besieged in Chitral with 400 ? soldiers. They had no flag with them, but, using the pattern from the lid of a tobacco tin, they made one from red and white cotton and a blue tur- , ban. All the white stripes were made of equal width, thus eliminating the j cross of St. Andrew. To the besieged ! soldiers, however, it was still a British flag, and Sir George records in fcis diar} T : "In truth it helped us greatly. It cheered our hearts and stiffened our backs." i A somewhat similar tale is told of a British garrison besieged in the i Boer war of 1880. When peace was def clared, they marched forth flying the ! flag they had made during the siege, j The material had been provided by red tunics and;the blue iining of an ! artillery officer's greatcoat.