This morning, Monday 21st July /73., Otter (Captain) told me that there was a matter which must be decided by the Council of M & accordingly Phillimore, Rodocanachi & myself went into College where the meeting was held. It appeared that on Saturday a QS had left his gown on Grant’s steps & it was taken by the servant till after “Abbey” when he gave it to a T.B, named Lefroy, to return to it’s owner. Lefroy, as he crossed the yard, put on the gown & sat on School steps with the gown still on, waiting for the Q.S. to whom it belonged. Just then one of the Q.S. Monitors came out of College (named Holthouse) & saw Lefroy wearing the gown, he immediately told him to take it off & Lefroy, of course, did so. These were the facts of the case & on this ground Holthouse & the other Q.S. said that Lefroy ought to be tanned. I, however, said that though Lefroy had done wrong in putting on the gown, still he ought not to be tanned for it, as it was such a trivial matter, & there was no rule that a TB should be tanned for wearing a gown, although it was an understood thing that a TB should never put one on; as the other two T.B monitors agreed with me & voted against the tanning the Q.Ss were unable to carry out their intention (Vide Entry no. 182 see 8). This did not satisfy them however, so Holthouse showed up to Scott with a view, I suppose, of getting his consent to the tanning. Scott did not view the matter in the same light as the Q.Ss but he spoke to me about it & said I had acted perfectly right in not giving consent to the tanning, & that he should have done the same has he been in my place, but at the same time that, as the Q.S.s has imagined themselves insulted, Lefroy must apologise to Otter as being the chief representative of the Q.Ss. This I think a satisfactory way of settling the matter, but the hostile spirit shown by the Q.Ss has excited no little ill feeling amongst the T.Bs & it is much to be regretted that the Q.Ss took up the affair so hotly, for had Holthouse asked for an apology at first, without making an absurd fuss about tanning, the matter would have been settled quietly. This officious Monitor also spoke to me today about fellows in the second II wearing white shags up fields, but as this has always been the custom, I took no notice of it, beyond telling Otter that for the last 3 years, at least, all T.Bs & Q.Ss in the Second II had always been permitted to wear shags.
H. J. Roberts
Prin Op.