THE "WELCOME" FLAG PROPOSAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9125, 26 June 1908, Page 5

THE "WELCOME" FLAG PROPOSAL.

NOT ENTERTAINED BY THE BOROUGH COUNCIL.

AN UNFORTUNATE DECISION

It is to be regretted that the Masterton Borough Council, at their meeting on Tuesday evening last, refused to fali in with the Premier's suggestion to send a "welcome" flag A to Auckland on the occasion of the visit of the American Fleet to these shores. In dismissing the matter as cursorily as they did, the Council apparently failed to grasp the full significance, of having our town represented in the welcome. Probably the council thought it was not justified in sanctioning the expenditure of a "welcome" flag, but had they looked deeper into the matter they would have realised the suggestion in ils true spirit, and have acted accordingly. The visitors are the defenders and protectors of those we call "our American cousins," and this Dominion owes it to the Motherland to preserve and strengthen the bond of sympathy and friendship that exists between Great Britain and the United States. There is approaching a rare opportunity for the people of the Dominion to display genuine loyalty for the lace to which they belong, and we should not only seize it, but seize it gladly. We should not forget that we are extending a welcome to a nation that speaks our lsnguage and is bound by a thousand ties of kinship to us. Petty notions rlvmld he swept aside. We should rise with the spirit of patriotism that every' Britisher possesses, and co our duty by cur nation. If every town acted as our Council would have us behave, the reception would, indeed, be_a chilly one; but, fortunately, this is not the case. The Government and the citizens of Auckland are taking a lead in the matter in a way that is highly creditable to them, but they want general assistance throughout the Dominion to make the welcome a complete one. The cost of a flag that would serve as a fitting "welcome" from Masterton would not cost mora than £lO, and we would suggest, as the Council had decided not to move in the matter, that the amount, be raised by public subscription in Masterton. A subscription list has been opened at this office, end we feel sure that the necessary amount will be readily subscribed, and that the residents of Masterton will earnestly concur with the Premier's suggestion to forward a "welcome" flag to • the American Fleet.