THE FIELD CASHIER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 46, 19 November 1918, Page 8

THE FIELD CASHIER

The Mysterv Man of the Expeditionary Force is the Field Cashier. Once a week he conies to the little French town where I am billeted (writes ,\.F.H. in the "Daily Mail"). There is always a queue of officers awaiting him, and never twice the same queue, yet 'he always manages to satisfy their pecuniary needs—theirs and their men's as well; Everyone recognises this clement of mystery about the. Field Cashier. In his sanctum reigns a cloister-likfi calm. Even the tones of the senior major are hushed, and ' the voico of the adjutant is not heard in the land. The Field Cashier is generally a lieutenant or a captain; yet.colonels bow before him, for ho has the "goods" and tho delivery thereof. There are,, many mysteries about tho Field Cashier. You approach him timorously and hand him a requisition for 4595 francs to pay your company. Within ten seconds, by some legerdemain, a pile of notes ' confronts you. Like a dog with a bone, you retire to a convenient corner to count, them. After a laborious ten minutes you find that the sum is absolutely correct. But that is only one of tho Field Cnshier's accomplishments; he has many others. You arrive from Blighty with a pocketful of English silver. Almost before it has left your hand he has hurled a bundle of franc notes at you, for the Field Cashier is a busy man/ It is exactly the same if you present him with lire, piastres, dollars, obols,' rupees, or candnreens. There is an apocryphal yam about the officer who had just arrived in France from British Central Africa. Being badly in need of some money,, ho went to a Field Cashier. , "Can you change me some Central African currency?" he asked. The Field Cashier looked up "Regula■tioiis for tho Guidance of Field Cashiers," page 897, para. 3, and then replied, "Yes, whore is it?" Tho officer blew a whistle, and a: fatigue./party appeared carrying three sacks filled with cowries. Thero was a fascinated stillness among the onlookers, broken only by a/ Canadian, who murmured 'fos inevitable,, "Got yer stiff,, Steve!" But there was no rigidity about the Field Cashier! For a brief space he gazed abstractedly at the ceiling, and then remarked, "751 francs point 68 repeating. How will you have it?" ; And the sunburnt one was so astonished that he replied, "Hot, and no sugar." What could the Expeditionary Force do without its Field Cashiers? ' It wouldn't ,