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Ministry of Transport (New Zealand)

image by Miles Li, 23 October 2005

Ministry of Transport flag (1968-98)

Ministry of Transport flag (1968-98)

Here is the flag of the New Zealand Ministry of Transport, as shown on Flags of the World [bcr78].
Miles Li, 23 October 2005

I'm puzzled by this flag. Why would the M.O.T. have the N.Z. white ensign in its canton, rather than the national flag? I mean, the M.O.T. is hardly naval, is it? Or is it?
Peter Johnson, 23 October 2005

This one very much surprises me. Although I have no evidence to support it, I suspect this is the ensign of the MOT (they cover both land and water transport, and - oddly - elevators). I suspect that on land they use dark blue in a way similar to the NZ Fire Service and Police. Mind you, I've never seen them fly any flag, and certainly no flag other than the national flag flies outside their local branch office.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I feel I have seen a dark blue flag with the NZ flag in the canton and the MOT emblem in gold in the fly. Mind you, their website doesn't even mention a flag, let alone show one...
James Dignan, 23 October 2005

To quote Flags of the World [bcr81]: "The Ministry of Transport has an ensign established in 1968. This has a field of sky blue with the Naval Ensign forming the canton, and the Ministry's badge in the fly." Since this book is one of the more accurate books on the subject vexillology, and that the illustration shows the correct Ministry of Transport badge, I didn't expect this to be incorrect (however weird it might be)!
Miles Li, 24 October 2005

The following is a reply to an inquiry about the flag I received in the mail:

Yes, there was a Ministry flag and it used to hang outside the Secretary's office on a floor based pole. It was produced in 1968 when the Transport Dept merged with the Air Department to become the Ministry. We had a lot of traffic officers in those days and a flag went with our image as an enforcement agency. Once Stewart Milne left as Sec and an MFAT ex Dep Sec became our Secretary, the image of us being a policy Ministry was driven home and a flag was not seen to fit with that image. This flag is not current and is not used anymore (since 1998).

Sincerely, Kelly Smith,
Communications Assistant,
Ministry of Transport (Te Manatu Waka), Level 9,
38-42 Waring Taylor Street,
PO Box 3175,
Wellington, New Zealand

Dean Thomas, 29 December 2005