The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1902. TARANAKI MOUNTED RIFLES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 108, 13 May 1902, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1902. TARANAKI MOUNTED RIFLES.

The disposition of the colours of the old corps "'.(he Taumaki Mounted Rifles" i« a matter of tome interest. At a meeting of members of the late corps, it was decided to deposit them in the museum, and a committee wan appointed to give effect to the wishes of the meeting. We understand ibi« committee meet on Wednesday, and we hope they will be successful in arranging for a suitable ceremony to mark the importance of the occasion. There are those who look upon this sort of thing as mere sentiment, If it is, it is the sort of sentiment to be encouraged. It is the sore of sentiment which is largely responsible for many of the brave and noble deeds that have been handed down to us as the proudest heritage of our race. Notwithstanding the fact that the carrying of colours' into the field of battle has been discontinued because of the changed con-' ditions of warfare, the fact remains that at no time in the history of the nation was the little piece of bunting, we call the flag, held so dear, eo sacred, as it is to-day. While the loyalty to the Grown is aa great as ever, the Monarch, owing to the enormous extent of th« Empire, is somewhat of a mystic being to thousands. The flag, on the other hand, is a i eal presence, is the emblem of Sovereignty, is the one visable tie which unites the Empire as one. " Thank God we kept the flag flying " sgut a thrill throughout (ha wide area over which flies the Uniou Jack, and bad a significance that was app< edited nil the world over. The colours of the Taranaki Mounted Rifles weie given to tbe corps as a sacied trust by the women of Taranaki at a tima when the foe was at the gat*, when the trust had to be kept in the faco of a Bloodthirsty foe. Now that peace and goodwill exists between the P.-ikehaand the Maori, it is a v«iy fitting thing that thess colours should be laid by as a fitting memorial of a ttate of things which can never return ag:in. The Maori, thanks to a more rational method of treatment', is now as keen to uphold the fhg as any Pake!i:>. Tbe obj .ot for whi h thetie colours were unfurl d has been accomplished, ar.d it is right aud proper that they s;;uuid be deposited in a place of honour with all due ceremooy. The occsion is one in which everyone should jojfully join in offering up a prayer of thankfulness that the laying up of these colours is significant of tho closa of a chapter in the history of the colony, which, though painful to look back upon, undoubtedly laid tho foucdatioos of the rtspftct,' esteem, and goodfellowship which now! exists between tbe Pakaha and the] Maori.