A MISSING FLAG

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18676, 4 October 1922, Page 9

A MISSING FLAG

SUPPOSED TO BE IN LE QUESNOY. (From Ode Own Correspondent.) ' W ELLINGTON, October 3. 1 \\nen the Prime Minister visited tho‘ Levin School this morning to hoist a flag and address the children, mention was madeof , a flag that v. as missing l . An interesting story had been partially unravelled, and Mr Massey promised to give his qssistancd' ; in completing it. During the earljt part' 1 of the Great War, Nurse Lewis, who gained 1 high distinction while serving with the Ser- ;’ biau forces, collected a sum of money in " the Otuki district for the purchase of‘an’ ambulance and two New Zealand nags. One of those flags went away with the Maori Pioneer Battalion, and tiie other with the Rifle Brigade. They were to be returned to the dominion at the close of the war, so that one might hang in the Otaki School and the other in the Levin - School. The flag that was carried by the Maoris did come back, and was placed iip> the Otaki School. The of thdL other flag is not yet definitely known, but there is ground for believing that it hangs in the town hall of Le Quesnoy. After tna New Zealanders had taken Le Quesnoy from the Germans in November: 1918, the Mayor of the French city presented a tricolour to the New Zealand Division, and asked for a dominion flag in exchange. There was some difficulty about complying „ with, the request. The division was ,iii/ fighting trim, and was not carrying flags,/’ but a New Zealand ensign was found and,' handed over to the Mayor, who promise cl that it would remain always in a placd of honour in the ancient Town Hall of bis;.r city. The tricolour was brought back, to;:New Zealand, and is at present in tho possession of Brigadier-general Hart. Ht is to be placed eventually in the new., cathedral in Wellington. The flag that;',, remained in I.e Quesnoy is believed to he the one that was intended to come back to Levin. Mr W. H. Field. M.P., said to-day that'* lie had made many inquiries regarding the. ■ flag, aiicl the military authorities had been / unable to give him any information. Ho intended to push the matter further and' : to ascertain definitely, if possible, whether l or not the flag now at Le Quesnoy was olio of the flags that were sent from the Otaki-. electorate. If it was the same flag, he pro-. sumed that it could not be brought back' to New Zealand, hut in that case the 1 children of the Levin School should be'given a chance to see the French tricolour that had been exchanged under such dramatic circumstancps for their flag.