No. 6633/1908.
NUMBER AND GATE SHOULD BE QUOTED IN REFERENCE TO THIS LETTER
554
41405
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG,
12th.October,
1908.
mo
Dear Cox,
General and
In reference to your letter of August 15th.
and enclosure, I consulted the Principal Civil Medical Officer
who confirms my own short experience in the following words:- "None of the Nursing Sisters (here) to my knowledge have be- "haved in an unbecoming manner outside the Hospital*, and in
consequence there does not at present seem to be any necessity for introducing the proposed regulations at present. He adds
in this connection:- "The first batch of Sisters wore out-of-
"-door uniform; this was given up shortly after their arrival
*as it was found unsuitable to the climate and rendered them
"too conspicuous.
*It is very difficult here for them to get
"any change outside their work as they are quite cut off from
*their friends and relations and if they have always to wear
"uniform they can never lose their identity as Nurses",
As regards wearing uniform at official functions,
-
the dress
is not intended as a Civil Official's is to be a "full-dress"
to mark a special occasion; it is rather in the nature of "a
suitable cleanly dress for them to wear when in the performance
of their duties", and therefore corresponds rather to the use
of Kharki among Military Officers than to gold lace and levee
dress. A Military Officer would not of course attend an
Official Dinner or any other function in Kharki. Unless there
were a Nurse's full dress which seems unnecessary and costly -
it would therefore seem to be incongruous to compel them to wear
& Hospital Uniform at official functions. If a Nurse were to
misbehave herself outside the Hospital it might perhaps
as