SENSATION AT SEACLIFF.

NZ Truth, Issue 725, 10 May 1919, Page 6

SENSATION AT SEACLIFF.

If the brains of many of those who claim Seacliff as a place of abode are a bit "addley" at times, there are no addley ankles amongst the nurses. The nurses-are proud of their ankles. What's the use of having neat ankles if they are to be kept from the vision of the world? But the fiat has gone forth at Seacliff that the delights of a well-turned nurse's ankle are henceforth to be denied those who long (have gloried m them. No skirt depending more than six inches from the ground will be allowed' to swish along the corridors or swing above the tennis court. Short skirts have been condemned, White stockings and white shoes have been denounced as unsightly. Hencef6rth, the principal attractions of Seacliff will be encased m sombre black • and hidden away from the sight of man. The garden will no longer be for the visitor the delectable lingerie-ing Bpot that once' it was; the-charm of a stroll through the grounds will have gone m the gloom of black stockings and skirts that sweep the grass. Greater and more fearsome apprehensions arise as the mind is allowed to dwell upon the awful consequences likely to follow this world-shaking decree. Who is going to' be .the adjudicator upon skirt lengths? Upon whom will be bestowed the honor of ..official tape measurer to the Nurses' Court? Is this terrible responsibility to be added to the already heavy burden carried by the Superintendent? Surely not. It cannot be allotted to the male attendants m rotation, for the other duties attaching' to an attendant's job would surely be. neglected on Measuring Day. If given to the patients it is likely to provoke a riot. To the nurses themselves cannot be entrusted the grave duty of measuring their own skirts. What, then, is to be done? *4Truth" would suggest that

applications be invited with all expedition by the Public Service Commissioner, the successful applicant to (provide his own tape-measure and his own: discretion, and that applications be limited to candidates likely to be rejected at the next general election. Something must be done,- and done speedily—'too many direction signs have already disappeared from the grounds.