EARL BEATTY'S COCKED HAT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 3, 5 January 1922, Page 2

EARL BEATTY'S COCKED HAT.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SAN FRANCISCO, December ti. Many hitherto obscure naval mysteries have been revealed at the Wash-] iugton Conference, but none has been J cleared tip so satisfactorily a« that; concerning Admiral Earl Hearty's,; cocked hat, which has been for some! years a problem of international con-1 cern. In the British army, but not in' the British navy, it is said, there was a time when the recruit was exhorted by lug drill sergeant to 'wear yer 'at on three 'airs! Look as if the 'ole ] town belonged to yer! And wiiik at! the girls in the windows!" ■Such advice, however, was never ofTi-1 cially acted upon by naval officers of flag rank before the advent of Admiral i Beatt-y. In his case it was quickly noted I that even at public functions, where he was snapshotted by tbe übiquitous, camera-man, the hero of .Jutland j affected, with his headgear, a manner | that was rakish and even devilish. He. | was wearing his cocked-hat at an angle: do aggressive, a tilt so saucy, that :t| might have been assumed lie was endeavouring to act upon the exhortation of the infantry drill sorgeaut. j This idea hatt now. happily been! exploded. The gallant admiral lias personally explained the cause of his apparent bumptious eccentricity. Conversing with a Canadian in Washington, respecting a name-sake in Canada who wears his hat similar to Earl Beatty, tjie latter said: "Vou 1 know, there are some people who don't understand my wearing my hat thati way. They think it, is swank. But it isn't that at all. As a matter of fact I have a lump on my bead which prevents mc wearing it any other way. It I wear it straight I get a headache." "Not bumptious of spirit, in fact: but a bump on one side of his head,'' was' the comment of one Western American: journal. The latest conference qtiip lias for its hero the delegate who, by and large, is the most interesting personality in a great galaxy of dignitaries—Admiral (Baron Kato. The Japanese sailorstatesman jerks nut his native tUngit,'. when parrying interrogatories, in a fashion, that has earned for him the sobriquet of "Stac-Kato." Ip to the end of November. .Mr. Balfour was the only conference notable who had called upon former President Wilson. The visit, of course, was utterly non-political, personal, and nonofficial.