Its Time for a New Flag

Those who revel in the Vandal' of Princess Anne's relationship with her horses, the press and her somewhat boring Lieutenant, also no doubt feel a sense of great pride at the sight of our national Hag gently fluttering in the Wellington wind. Those familiar red, white and blue colours in the form of the Union Jack in one corner, those stars on a plain blue background constituting the remaining area frankly do little to instil any national pride in my not so aged veins. I feel no romantic attachment to our so called 'home' country and thus think that our national flag should he free from the insignificance of the British influence.

Any feeling I ever had for the current New Zealand flag soon disappeared when I was unable to differentiate between it and its Australian counterpart — which is exactly the same but for one star more or less, I never can remember which.

While I am not advocating that we go as far as the American public in the use of the Stars and Stripes — on every second car there is a miniature version I do feel that a true New Zealand nag would be far more advantageous to many sectors of our community than the present reminder of colonial settlement.

A New Zealand flag, for example, would be welcomed by the business community, especially those engaged in exporting, who have had to devise their own symbol in the absence of a Hag bearing national identity.

Travellers abroad at present generally rely on an Air New Zealand travel bag as a means of indicating to others their country of origin — and in today's world it is often advantageous to make it known that you come from a country which does not have a bad image abroad It is so had in Europe at present that many young Americans buy Canadian Hags in an attempt to avoid the contempt that many Europeans have for America.

With Britain about to embark on a new era in European Co—operation its time we made a significant break by dumping our Union Jacked flag and replacing it with one that has meaning to us as a nation, not as a colony.

Roger Green