THE UNION JACK

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3899, 10 May 1937, Page 12 (Supplement)

THE UNION JACK

HOW TO HOIST IT ON CORONATION DAY. RIGHT WAY AND WRONG. Flags will soon be flapping gaily on every mast in Te Awamutu and district in honour of the Coronation of King George VI. It is hoped that they will be flapping the right way up and not, as is only too often the case, upside down. Recently it has been observed that numbers of people are evidently unaware that the Union Jack has a distinct top and bottom, or if they are aware of it, do not know which is which. A study of the accompanying illustration, however, should prevent further errors. To hoist the Union Jack upside-down is to proffer, not a compliment, but contumely, to King George on this momentous occasion.

It will be readily perceived from the illustration that the diagonal red stripes on the part of the flag nearest the mast have the broad border of white uppermost, and that in consequence the upper edge of the flag begins with a strip of white. As long as attention is paid to this detail the flag will be correctly hoisted. At sight it appears to be an easy thing to haul up a flag correctly, but a slight mistake may well prove a shocking breach of etiquette.

The reason for the assymetrie form of the Union Jack lies in its origin. The flag is, of course, the Great Union flag, commemorating the union of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1801. It is formed, therefore, of the national flags of these three countries —Saint George’s cross, gules, on a field argent, Saint Andrew’s silver saltire on an azure field, and St. Patrick’s saltire, gules, on a field argent, in the complicated jargon of heraldry. The blue background and broad white diagonals are St. Andrew’s cross, the emblem of Scotland. Over this is ruperimposed the red diagonal cross of St. Patrick of Ireland, with a narrow white border to show its original ground. On top of all is placed the broad red cross of St. George, also with a white border to indicate the original "field argent.” Had the St. Patrick's cross been placed immediately over that of St. Andrew, it would technically have obliterated it, and given Scotland a standing grievance in being inadequately represented on the national flag. As it is, it has had a curious effect in that the St. Patrick’s cross has been distorted —the red diagonals it continued across the centre of the flag would not meet in a proper cross at all.

Besides being the national flag of the British Empire, the Union Jack is the most important of British ensigns, flown by representatives of government the world over. The GovernorGeneral of India flies it with the Star of India in the centre. Colonial Governors fly it with the badge of the colony in the middle. Consuls fly It with the Royal arms In the middle. It flies over fortresses and camps and barracks. and from the jackstaff of every British warship, and hoisted to the masthead of a man-o’-war it is the flag of an admiral of the fleet. It is the most widely distributed and wellknown of all national emblems, because it is the flag of the greatest empire the world has so far seen, and it is an object of sufficient veneration to be flown the right way up by the people of a British Dominion, on the day their King is crowned at Westmins-