Flag of New Zealand early days of European settlement. Additionally, in Māori mythology the Southern Cross is identified as "Māhutonga", an aperture in "Te Ikaroa" (the Milky Way) through which storm winds escaped. The flag should be rectangular in shape and its length should be two times its width, translating into an aspect ratio of 1:2. It has a royal blue background with a Union Jack in the canton, and four five-pointed red stars with white borders on the fly (outer or right-hand side). The exact colours are specified as Pantone 186C (red), Pantone 280C (blue), and white. According to the Ministry for Culture
Flag of the Solomon Islands design stirred up much debate in the community and it too was scrapped. Ultimately, the last design was created by a New Zealander teaching at the King George VI School, in the eastern part of the capital Honiara. This was in spite of the fact that preference was supposed to be given to local submissions by Solomon Islanders. The stars stood for the country's provinces and not the Southern Cross, unlike the flags of nearby Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa. It was ratified as the new flag of the islands on 18 November 1977, eight months before