ARMY SNOBBERY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 February 1940, Page 7

ARMY SNOBBERY

INCIDENTS IN ENGLAND. PRIVATES BANNED IN SOME HOTELS. The commanding officers of some districts where troops are in training are exercising the discretion allowed them by the War Office to place certain hotels out of bounds for all ranks except officers. A War Office official stated that there is no War Office instruction, but the commanding officer has power to place hotels out of bounds if he considers it is in the interests of discipline. He added, that the use of the same room by officers and men in the army was not encouraged, but no objection would be offered as long as it did not interfere with discipline. Cases have been of military., commanders in some districts placing certain hotels out of bounds for all ranks except officers, although, it is pointed out, that the former Secretary of War, Mr Hore-Belisha, stated in the House of Commons on December 5, that “there was no objection from the military point of view”, to officers and men dining in the same room. Both the “Manchester Guardian" and the "News-Chronicle" publish accounts of privates who have been asked to leave a dining-room in which officers have been having a meal. Mr Harold Nicolson, M.P.. in an article in "The Spectator,” gives details of a private soldier on leave dining in a Piccadilly restaurant where he was well known as a civilian. He had hardly begun his meal when he was requested to leave because a major who was dining at a distant table objected to his presence. The “News-Chronicle” records the case of a private who went to dine at a hotel with his Father. The manager was forced to explain to the father, who was a regular client, that the hotel was out of bounds to all ranks except officers.

In a leading article, the “Manchester Guardian" asks how many other people are entitled to go back on assurances, and in what circumstances would they be supported by the War Office? "Parliament might usefully extract the answer from-the new Secretary for War. Mr Oliver Stanley,” it states. Similar occurrences in the R.A.F. are being reported, although the Air Ministry has not established a ruling on the subject. Two hotels in Epping, which are patronised by R.A.F. ranks, have been obliged to provide special accommodation. because the R.A.F. authorities insist that officers and men should not drink in the same room.