Timet It Was Stopped

Franklin Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 43, 19 April 1940, Page 8 (Supplement)

Timet It Was Stopped

Jeering at men who are wearing the King’s uniform has apparently become a favourite pastime among groups of young men who assemble in the vicinity of the Dunedin Stock Exchange. The practice may be due less to disloyalty than to a belief that passers-by enjoy the “humour” of the remarks, but, whatever the reason may be, two soldiers who called at the “Daily Times” office on Friday declared very definitely that they had had enough of this sneering comment. It came, they said, from a ne’er-do-well element that would not be loitering at street corners if it had the desire to do a useful day’s work or the intelligence to make better use ot its spare time, and they realised that the reverse attitude was adopted by a vast majority of citizens. Nevertheless, the remarks became annoying when one had to endure them for days on end. The soldiers added that they had enlisted for the best of reasons and were proud to be in khaki, but they were surprised that they should be subjected to insults because they were on service. There were, of course, direct methods of dealing with Ihe people from whom the remarks came, but these might tend to bring the uniform into disrepute. They preferred that protection should come ia some other form.