DECLINE IN SALUTING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 128, 11 July 1941, Page 5

DECLINE IN SALUTING

RELAXING OLD CUSTOM Dominion troops have never been •over-addicted to saluting, and judging. from what one sees in London streets British troops—sailors and too —are taking a similai vie,w of what is necessary off tho parade ground (writes a London correspondent) . To compare to-day's custom with that of the first few months of the war y*to come to the conclusion *thatv<flk'3ritish Army, meandering 'from 'precedent to precedent, is ■gently approaching the position formally established in the United States, that there shall be no saluting save on duty. 1 chanced to stand at a Piccadilly bus stop recently beside a lieuten-ant-colonel. Twelve "other ranks" passed him, ten soldiers and two airmen. Not one saluted. The only salute he received was given by the only officer who passed, a majoi. that is, of the next highest rank to his own. The lieutenant-colonel -seemed surprised neither by the punctiliousness ot the o.r.e nor by the unconcern of the twelve. This incident confirmed a general impression of what obtains in London nowadays, elsewhere at any rate than in Whitehall, which remains something of a parade-ground vfn lis own right.