At the risk of disclosing a preciously-guarded British naval secret, the "London Gazette" announces that calves of naval officers are no longer frowned upon by the Admiralty and that officers in tropical waters are to wear white shirts and shorts. In this new scheme of "re-legament"—pardon—re-armament, a Wimbledon note is to be set for like the shorts worn during the women's tennis tournament, although wide, they will be modishly ow. The "Gazette" states that "they will be of white drill with a 2%in, band and two pleats, two straps in front, with buckles, of white metal, one inch wide. Bottom of shorts to be 26 in. (circumference) and to reach within three inches of the knee cap." The shirts will be tailored in true naval style with "a yoke at back and box pleat. Three buttons, all to button, of plain white pearl, down the front. Shoulders fitted holes for shoulder straps as on white tung Sleeves will be short to the elbow or long to the wrist but the Admiralty makes no insistence on this detail, leaving it to the option of the wearer, but there is no deviation from the final item that white stockings, turnover tops, must be worn with white shoes and black stockings with black shoes. This is nothing new to China where officers have worn shirts and shorts for some time, according to the personal inclinations of the Commander-in-Chief, but now that the new naval fashion note has been revealed for the benefit of Chinese tailors it certainly was unfair of a London newspaper to produce the gag: "Down to the sea in shorts." It is a far cry from the days of Nelson and his officers who went into action with silk shirts, knee breeches and powdered wigs, but there is something incongruous about the idea which jars with popular conceptions of naval rig, especially when the "Beatty touch" is so firmly entrenched in the popular mind,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.