THE SOUTH AFRICAN FLAG
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In reference to your notes on South African politics, I should like to say that Jan van Riebeek could not have sailed under the present Dutch flag because the red horizontal stripe was not substituted for the original orange one till after the Napoleonic Wars. The controversy in connection with the South African flag is interesting from a psychological point of view.
We are willing that the Republican flags should be reproduced in the new design, provided that the Union Jack is also in- cluded. The Dutch, on the other hand, reject our flag, but do not insist on the retention of their own. Race feeling seems to be represented, on the one side, by sentimental attachment to tradition, on the other, by long memories of national events. Let us hope, however, that it will not be a case of " Never the twain can meet."—I am, Sir, &c.,
6 Elms Avenue, Muewell Hill, IV. 10.
VIOLET REED.
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