Famous Flag Of The Shaw Savill & Albion Co.

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 153, 24 March 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

Famous Flag Of The Shaw Savill & Albion Co.

NEW ZEALAND’S ORIGINAL NATIONAL ENSIGN

Chosen By Maori Chiefs 105 Years Ago

THE handsome house-flag of the Shaw Savili and Albion Company Ltd., is older than its owners, and, save lor one small detail, is identical with that which was adopted as the national’ flag ol New Zealand more than 100 years ago. The Centennial of New Zealand is being celebrated at the end of this year, but the centenary of the flag was observed five years ago. It was on March 20, 1834. that New Zealand received from the British Government her original national flag. There is no record known of the actual date when that flag was superseded by the Union flag as the insignia of British authority; nor is it known today exactly how and when the Shaw Savili Line acquired the old national flag as its house-flag, but it appears to have been flown by the company’s ships from the foundation of the flrm. The familiar house-flag differs from the original in one small detail. The white border, or fimbriation. round the small St. George’s Cross on the blue ground in the upper canton next the hoist, has disappeared.

IN the year 1833, Mr. Tames Busby was appointed to act as British Resident at the Bay of

Islands. He arrived in May of that year, and, after a delay of some months, took up his residence at what we know as Waitangi, but which he called Victoria. His primary duty was to exercise some degree of control over British subjects then residing in New Zealand. It is now well-known that his position was hopelessly anomalous.

New Zealand was not yet a British country, and Mr. Busby was exercising his functions entirely on the sufferance of the native chiefs. In these circumstances he could be given no physical power and very little legal power. His influence was to be almost exclusively moral, and therefore the -instructions he received stressed the things he could

not do, rather than the services be might perform. Mr. Busby, though no doubt possessing his full share of human foibles, was none the less a man of parts, and those who have had the opportunity of reading through his correspondence will readily concede that his office was no sinecure. When he arrived at the Bay of Islands the population was predominantly Maori. Outside the missionaries and their families, there were a few settlers of high ideals and respectable habits, but the great bulk of the European population, clustered round the halfMaori, half-pakeha town of Kororareka was a hot mixture of sailors and whalers, of run-away convicts and rum-sellers, who had no use for either law or order. As Mr. Busby was the nominal representative-of both, he was not persona grata at Kororareka, and unaided he could do little to restrain the excesses for which that settlement had become notorious.

At Hokianga, on the other side of the island, the position was quite different. There a number of Scotsmen had settled. They were the remnant of a futile attempt to found a Scottish colony. on the banks of that fine river, and, being shipbuilders, they had at once become sensible of the great natural advantages of their situation, and had begun to build vessels suitable for the river and coastal trade. There were also other New Zea-land-owned vessels plying between the different harbours of the eastern coast, and local shipping

was becoming a factor in New Zealand life.

No New Zealand Register

Of the importance of the shipping industry, and its aid .to commerce, Mr. Busby was fully conscious, and it was not long before he discovered that it was being carried on under a crippling handicap. Sailing as these New Zealandowned vessels were, under no recognized register, and without the protection of the British ensign—which they were forbidden to fly —they were liable to seizure at any time by any enterprising pirate. Equally impossible was it for these owners to register their craft in New Zealand, for there was, as yet; no acknowledged flag of the nation. The crisis came when a barque built on the Hokianga River, and named the Sir George Murray, entered Sydney harbour flying the Union Jack, as her British believed he was entitled to do. When the port authorities boarded the vessel, this captain was asked to produce his papers. As he had sailed from a port in New Zealand where there was no Custom house, he had no papers to show. Furthermore, he had hoisted the Union Jack, a flag which, in the circumstances, he was not entitled to fly, and so there seemed to be nothing for it but to arrest the ship. She was accordingly seized for these breaches of maritime law, and, pending discussions with the higher authorities, she was held in custody by the Water Police.

Satisfactory explanations were, of course, quickly forthcoming, and eventually the vessel was released, but, to overcome the difficulty of having no flag of her own, she was obliged to fly a Maori mat, of the kind known as a kaitaka, at her masthead. When matters were finally adjusted by the intervention of Mr. Busby,.she. in due course, received her register, and it is said that she proved to be one of the neatest models and smartest clippers in the South Seas; A National Flag Wanted The arrest of the Sir George Murray,.and the plight of other New Zealand-owned vessels to Which a similar or worse fate might befall, brought the situation of New Zealand shipping pointedly under notice, and Mr. Busby immediately raised the question with the authorities of New South Wales, by urging the need of a national flag. Although there was no obligation resting upon him to do so, Sir Richard Bourke, who was then the Governor, and certainly one of the; most efficient Governors New South Wales ever, had, at once accorded a hearty approval to the claim of Mr. Busby that the commerce of the country warranted the protection it would derive from the adoption of a national ensign. The principle being admitted, the question must then have arisen : “What pattern of flag is New Zealand to have?” Sir Richard Bourke did not presume to dictate on this point, but, like a wise man, he left the choice to others. On this basis

three flags of different designs were prepared.

These three flags were entrusted to Captain Lambert, of H'.M.S. Alligator, with instructions to proceed to the Bay of Islands, and there, in association with Mr. Busby, submit the colours to the choice of the native chiefs, in whom it was then and thereby acknowledged that the sovereignty of the country lay. The Alligator arrived at the Bay on March 9, 1834, and a conference of the chiefs was immediately summoned by Mr. Busby. This event took place at Waitangi on March 20, the natives having been gathered from all the surrounding pas into a large marquee erected in front of the British Residency, and gaily decorated with flags from the Alligator. Wisely or unwisely, the proceedings were not conducted on the democratic basis of our present-day politics, for, on some principle which has not been made clear, the tent was divided by a barrier into two areas, into one of which only the rangatiras were admitted, and to them the right of selection was confined/ No debate was permitted, but Mr. Busby read to the chiefs a speech in which he dwelt upon the advantages to be anticipated from the adoption of a national flag, and then invited them to take a vote on the choice of design. Chosen By Maori Chiefs This mode of procedure created considerable dissatisfaction among the lesser lights of the tribes, who resented the doubtful privilege of I

being permitted to look on without the consequential right to exercise a vote. The stifling of discussion also tended to breed distrust in the minds of some chiefs, to whom the settlement of so important a matter without a korero (discussion), was a suspicious innovation. Two of the head men declined to record their votes, believing that under a ceremony conducted in such a manner there must be concealed some sinister motive. Despite these protests the British Resident and Captain Lambert had their way. and at the conclusion of Mr. Busby’s address the flags were displayed and the electors invited to vote.

Mr. William Barrett Marshall, who was assistant surgeon on board the Alligator, mentions in his book, “A Personal Narrative of Two Visits to New Zealand,” that during his stay at the Bay he had become interested in a chief named Hau. who, prior to the voting, asked him for his opinion on the designs. The surgeon favoured the one ultimately chosen, and Hau, having discovered in which direction his taste lay, paid him the compliment of adopting it, and canvassed others for their votes also. This influence probably determined the selection. The only son of the great warrior chief, Hongi, acting as poll clerk, took down in writing the preferences of the chiefs. Twelve votes were recorded for the most popular design, ten for the next in favour, and only six for the third.'

It was then found that the choice of the majority had fallen upon an extremely beautiful flag, in which

the designer’s aim eventually was to secure a happy union of the Cross of St. George with the stars of the Southern Cross. The flag, which was 16 feet by 10 feet, would, in technical language, be described as: “A red St. George’s Cross -on a white ground. In the tipper canton, next the staff, a red and white St. George’s Cross on a blue ground, pierced with four sixpointed white stars.”

The election over, the rejected flags were close-furled, and the selected design flung out to the breeze, and in the name of 1 the chiefs, Mr. Busby formally declared it to be the national flag of New Zealand.

Ceremony At Waitangi

As the symbol of the new-born nation was run up on the halyards, it was received with a salute of 21 guns from H.M.S. Alligator, and by cheers from her company and the goodly crowd of missionaries and settlers who had assembled to participate in the ceremony. As is usual with most of such functions where Britons are concerned, the event was celebrated by a feast. The Europeans were regaled at a cold luncheon at Mr. Busby’s house, while the Maoris had pork and potatoes served on the lawn in front of the Residency, which delicacies they devoured sans knives, sans forks.

The adoption of the flag subsequently received the entire approbation of the British Government, on behalf of which Lord Aberdeen

promised that the flag would receive the protection of the British Navy, and this announcement was published in the New South Wales Government Gazette of August 19, 1835.

The flag adopted remained the national ensign of New Zealand until it was superseded by the Union Jack when the Sovereignty of the country was ceded to Queen Victoria under the Treaty of Waitangi. On the morning of February 5, 1840, both flags were living above the tent erected at Waitangi, in which the chiefs were to debate the merits of the proposal submitted to them by Captain Hobson, but before the meeting opened, the Union Jack was hauled down in acknowledgment of the fact that New Zealand was not yet a British country. On the following day the Treaty was signed, the chiefs consenting to surrender their authority in return for the protection of the British Crown.

We know that, in the opinion of Captain Hobson, the signatories then obtained were sufficient to warrant him in regarding the transaction as complete, and one would suppose he would then have hoisted the Union Jack with no little ceremony, and that he .would have mentioned the ceremony in his despatches. He may have done so, but, so far as can be ascertained, neither he nor anyone associated with him has ever mentioned the precise, moment when the old New Zealand flag was superseded, and the Union Jack was hoisted as the insignia of British authority.