A STRANGE CEREMONY.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1022, 12 January 1882, Page 4

A STRANGE CEREMONY.

The Transvaal Argus contains a long account of a ceremony which took place on Oct. 3rd in Pretoria. A number of Englishmen there met and decided to ■“ commit to earth the emblem of the country’s greatness.” This was regarded as a “ solemn and emphatic protest against the treatment which British subjects and the British flag has received at the hands of the British Government. The funeral was arranged to take place as nearly as possible at the time when it was expected that the convention would be signed. A vehicle draped with black was provided, drawn by two horses clothed in sables. Inside the carriage a raised platform was placed to receive the coffin, upon the lid of which the following inscription was placed:—“ In loving memory of the British Flag in tho Transvaal, who imparted this Life on the 2nd of August, 1881, her 50th year. ‘ln other climes none knew thee but to love thee.’ Resurgam.” The coffin which contained the flag was placed under the platform provided, amid the deepest silence and the uncovered heads of the people assembled. About 350 white people followed the hearse, and a large number of Kaffir chiefs and their retinue fell in, making a total number of about COO in procession. On arrival at the grave the coffin was taken from the hearse and lowered into the place prepared for it “ with the greatest reverence and decorum,” and an oration was delivered referring to the glories associated with the British flag for 1007 years—a flag now “ laid low in the dust, wounded to the heart by an unkind thrust, shorn of a portion of her honour.” At the head of the grave was placed a tombstone bearing the same inscription as that on the eoffin.