CALCUTTA REVELS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20823, 30 June 1942, Page 3

CALCUTTA REVELS

AUSTRALIAN TROOPS GIFT TO A MAGISTRATE CALCUTTA, April 2. Australian troops recently celebrated their visit to Calcutta in an overexuberant manner. They did not understand the local rule banning the sale of beei' by the military canteens in certain circumstances to anyone under the rank of sergeant. So they sought refreshment from less reputable sources. They staged an escapade in which a circus pony plus many yards of red carpet were the main properties. One A.I.F. man, taken before the magistrate, was discharged with a stern warning. In token of his appreciation of this clemency, the soldier presented the magistrate with a handsome marble clock. .. Two days later the police were informed that a marble * clock was missing from the mantelpiece of the city's leading club. One newspaper, which mildly criticised the A.I.F. men’s behaviour, was visited by a deputation of. Indian soldiex-s who had fought beside the Australians. They told the editor that the A.I.F. men often shared their cdfnforts and hampers with the Indians in Libya, and were fine fighting comrades, whom the Indian people should entertain instead of leaving them to entertain themselves. Meanwhile the editor received letters written on behalf of English Tommies, unfortunately not publishable, urging that canteen restrictions should be lifted.