Saluting the Colours.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 300, 18 December 1931, Page 8

Saluting the Colours.

To the Editor. Dear Sir, —Does “ Anti-Bunkum ” imagine that New Zealanders (as a race) share his views? If so, he must move in a jolly small circle. I am aware that such people do exist, but for a man to imagine that we, as a people, share his views, and then have the neck to air his views in the Press, is a little bit over the fence. Maybe we are not lovers of militaristic ceremony, because we never see them on such scales as are carried out in other countries if the cinema is to be believed, yet we manage to turn up in our thousands to the Anzac Day and similar processions. I think the reason why some of us do not raise our hats to the King’s Colours is because, seeing them so rarely, we just do not know it is good form to raise one’s hat. We know it is good form to stand while the National Anthem is being played, and so we stand. I am glad to think that we honour the King in New Zealand in this and other respects, a good deal more than some countries I have visited. Whether “ Honour the King ” is a “ Homie ” or not is immaterial. If I can learn good form, I learn it, from whatever source it comes, and keep quiet about iX, not try to make a noise in the Press. As to worn-out tradition, how many of us remain seated while the National Anthem is played? Has “A. 8.” the courage of his convictions to remain seated, or does he stand because the next man stands? Ask a New Zealander why he stands, and he will say, ‘‘Why shouldn’t I?” It will take more than “ Anti-Bunkum ” to upset the traditions of many years. No use trying, either, as those same traditions have been good enough for folk just as clever as we are. No go, dsar Bunkum. Submerge.—l am. CITIZEN.