In more recent times additional interesting evidence and authority have been given, both as to the name of this flag and its use by private citizens. In reply to an enquiry in 1902 by the Vicar of Folkestone, England, as to the propriety of the display of the Royal Standard upon his church at the time of the coronation of His Majesty Edward VII., Lord Knollys, Private Secretary to the King, in reply, informed him that the Standard should not so be used, but "you can always fly the Union Jack."[175] The name and the propriety of the use of the Jack by private citizens in the United Kingdom was graciously confirmed.
As there had been considerable discussion as to what flags were proper to be used on land in Canada, the writer addressed Lord Knollys, quoting the previous letter, and stating the particular attention given to the flying of flags in this and the outer realms of the Empire, and received in reply, that "the Union Jack, being the national flag, may be flown by British subjects, private or official, on land."[176]
The Colonial Secretary of the Imperial Cabinet, in reply to a question in the House of Commons (1908), said that the Union Jack could be flown by every citizen of the Empire, as well as on Government offices and public buildings; that the Union Jack should be regarded as the national flag, and undoubtedly might be hoisted on land by all His Majesty's subjects.
Authority has also been since given by the "Home Office" in England, stating "that the Union Jack is to be regarded as the national flag, and may be used generally by British subjects on land".[177]
The three crosses of the three nations whose successive unions it first typified, have since expanded far beyond the United Kingdom of the parent isles.
The sons of the Kingdoms have in centuries of prowess carried it far afield, and bringing distant continents beneath its realm, have built up the Dominions beyond the seas in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and the myriad islands of the oceans, so that it has become the Union Jack of the British Empire.
A British subject, wherever he may be on British soil, may, therefore, always use the Union Jack.
It has already been noted that when flags are to be employed for official purposes it is desirable that definite regulations shall be issued for their use. In Canada we raise the Union Jack on our Parliament and Legislative Buildings, as indicating the presence of Government under the British Constitution; by Parliaments derived from and following the precedents of the original Union Parliaments, and on our law courts, as sign of the administration of British law.
To emphasize and inculcate the world-wide duties that this flag proclaims, the Union Jack is raised over the Public Schools, so that the newcomers to our lands from other lands and other nationalities may know that they and their children have come to enjoy with us allegiance to King and country, the securities of British protection of person and property, and the rights and privileges of British citizenship, which loyal allegiance to it conveys.
Public education in Canada is under the charge of each of the Provincial Governments, and in Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia and the Maritime Provinces the single Union Jack is the flag which has been instructed to be officially raised daily over the Public Schools.