A TOO HIRSUTE SAILOR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10430, 16 April 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

A TOO HIRSUTE SAILOR.

A recalcitrant sailor's beard is 'just | now causing the French Minister- of Marine a good deal of official perplexity. Many years ago French men-o'-warsmen were compelled to wear whiskers. Then whiskers were suppressed and men torn thev might grow beards. A quartermaster belonging to the Mediterranean squadron took the hint and grew one, which to-day measures 14in: in length, of which he is'very 'proud. But the regulations have, been changed afresh and quite recently it was decreed that French sailors might be either cleanshaven cr cultivate a beard not to exceed 2in. The quartermaster has turned a deaf ear to the injunction of his commanding officer, and the admiral of his souadron has been appealed to m vain, for the man refuses to sacrifice tiie offending fourteen inches of beard. His shore leave has beau stopped, but he savs that nothing short of force will make'him yield. The aifair, which has been the subject of a departmental mouiry, lias iiow reached the Minister of Marine. The only way out of the difficulty seems to be the cashiering of the offending quartermaster or the J amending of the regulations.