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In August 2000 a new flag was authorised for restricted use in New
Zealand and overseas. The flag is the New Zealand Blue Ensign.
In 1902, the British Admiralty issued a warrant granting members of
the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron the right to fly a British Blue Ensign
on their vessels. Flag Officers of the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht
Club of Wellington, and the Royal Akarana Yacht Club of Auckland,
were later also permitted to fly the Blue Ensign defaced with their Club's badge. All
three warrants required
members' vessels to be registered as British ships.
The passage of the Shipping and Seamen Act 1952
created an independent ship registration system in New Zealand, so
that New Zealand ships were no longer British. Nevertheless all three yacht clubs
continued to fly the British Blue Ensign. The Ships Registration Act
1992 provided in Section 58 that all vessels in New Zealand, (other than New
Zealand Government ships and vessels of the armed forces), were required to fly
the New Zealand Flag or the New Zealand Red Ensign. This
made the continued flying of the British Blue Ensign in New Zealand inappropriate.
Members of the Yacht Clubs did not wish to lose the right to fly a
Blue Ensign. They lobbied for the right to fly a Blue Ensign instead of the
New Zealand Flag or the Red Ensign.
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