HC Deb 28 March 1904 vol 132 c826
MR. PLATT-HIGGINS (Salford, N.)

To ask the Secretary of State for War if his attention has been called to the fact that a private of the 2nd Buffs has been tried by Court-martial at Dover for striking a corporal of the Military Police, in the course of an altercation arising out of the private having worn his curls outside his cap, and whether he will consider the propriety of altering a regulation which tends to make the service unpopular with the rank, and file.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) The rules of the service, as regards hair, are the same for officers and men, i.e., the hair is to be kept short, and no-alteration in this rule appears advisable. The incident has not been brought to the notice of the Secretary of State; it is one within the purviews of the General Commanding, but if the facts are as stated in the Question, the private has been guilty of insubordination.