THE WAIPU SCOTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24138, 3 December 1941, Page 8

THE WAIPU SCOTS

GIFT FROM CANADA NOVA SCOTIAN FLAG As a symbol of the link between Nova Scotia and the descendants of the Waipu pioneers who sailed to New Zealand in their own ships from Nova Scotia more than 80 years ago, a Nova Scotian flag has been presented to the district by Dr. C. J. Burchell, K.C., lately Canadian High Commissioner to Australia. It will be unfurled on New Year's Day. The flag is one which was displayed at an historical pageant held at Halifax in June, 1939, in honour of the visit of King George VI. and Queen Elizabeth. it bears a blue saltire, or St. Andrew's Cross, on a white ground, and imposed on the centre of the cross is a shield bearing the arms of Scotland, a red lion rampant on a field of gold. Dr. Burchell's interest in Waipu is due to the fact that he is a Nova Scotian, born in Sydney, Cape Breton, not far from St. Ann's Bay, whence the Rev. Norman McLeod and his flock sailed in 1851 on the voyage to South Australia which eventually took them to New Zealand. When Dr. Burchell visited New Zealand in 1938 on his way home from the Commonwealth Relations Conference in Australia he was driven to Waipu bv the Canadian Trade Commissioner, Mr. W. F. Bull, and met a number of the leading settlers at a gathering in the public hall. He was appointed High Commissioner to Australia in 1939, and passed through Auckland last July on his way to take up a similar post in Newfoundland. Recently he forwarded the flag to Mr. Bull for transmission to the people of Waipu, and Mr. Bull has handed it to Mr. A. Bishop, of Disraeli Street. Mount Eden, who will present it at the gathering on New Year's Day.