FORBIDDEN TRIPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 November 1939, Page 3

FORBIDDEN TRIPS

TAKEN BY SOLDIERS. HOSPITAL INCIDENTS. (By Telegraph—Preas Association.) AUCKLAND. November 22. Fifty soldiers at present accommodated at the Auckland Hospital infirmary. suffering from influenza, were deprived of their trousers by the hospital authorities at 6.30 last night, but they are quite happy; they know they will get them back when they leave hospital in a few days. In the meantime pyjama pants are the fashion. On a recent night some of the soldier patients decided to attend a dance, ' and disappeared from their ward, leaving dummies in their beds to mislead the nurses on night, duty. But I the nurses were not born yesterday, and. when the soldiers returned, they were dismayed to find how deficient they had been in the art of camouflage. 1 Then other soldiers, feeling fitter than their charts entitled them to, had been taking unauthorised strolls in the neighbourhood, though outside the hospital grounds had been declared out of bounds. Certain others were more daring and they took unauthorised motor-car rides with friends who called for them. The superintendent, who is an old soldier, put it to them, man to man, pointing out that he did not wish to impose irksome restrictions, but that, as their health was his responsibility, he must insist upon their obeying the rules of the institution. The men took it in good part, but one soldier stated that he intended leaving' as soon as he was able. As a consequence the superintendent instructed that all trousers were to be locked up "for the duration." It is understood that the attitude of the soldier in question was such that it. became necessary for action to be taken by the military authorities.