COMFORT FOR THE SOLDIER

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 89, 1 May 1937, Page 11

COMFORT FOR THE SOLDIER

flot Water And Wireless

' ' ARE ACKS 5 * ae * word adgnifying exterior ugliness and iutorior lack of comfort has for long been current in the language. At last the Army Gouncil has made up its mincl to .remove the reproach that the soldier is accommodated in unattraotiveeonditions, says the London Observer. ' The hest feature of the new type of barracks, some of which are to, be. built almost,. at once, is ihe provision of a club or sitting-room connected to each pair of dormitories for about- twentyfour.men. - For the first i time in the history, of -the Army' the soldier' is to' be provided/ with a, real' living' room adjacent to but- apart from His sleeping quarters and dining room. » Steel wardrobes for each man, eentral heating, conetant hot water,, a plug for a wireless reCeiver in each living ro,bm, -together with a really good arrangement of kitchens and dining rooms will- provide a degree of comfort nofc yefc experienced in any barracks. The soldier, of fifty years ago , would be astonished at the degree of -comfort to be obtained even in the pre'sentday barracks, which in their turn are now regarded as out-of-date and a deterrent. to recrniting. . Barrack life has always lagged somewhat -behind -home life, but at laet an .attempt qs to be made to give the soldier something rather better than he can get in his own home. : We are still, however, far from the ideal set forth in Kipling's f'Army of a Dreairq^* dn which he visualised ra separate room for each man. Until towardl . the end of the . elghteenth'century soldiers in England'.-were usually quartere'd oh the populations oi the towns they had to garrison. Bar-

racks for the Foot Guards had been built in 1660, and the Royal Barracks ra Dublin were built in 1700. The • early regulations concerning barrack . construction . and maintenance show that eonditions were unbelievabiy bad, according to modern ideas. Overcrowding was general,. and . ^narried quarters 'were usually 'provided by the simple * expedient of putting a blanket *' screen xound one qnarter of the barrack room./ • ; Wellington "was the first reformer, %nd he insisted on sihgle - iron bed•steads for - eveiy man instead of wooden berths, and a definite nu'mber of cubic feet of space per man. J* - the old "days the men had to cook their ■own food, and' when kitchens were introduced — a mnch-derided . noveltw— etrict .rides ■Were- mkde that the soldier was to nse ihe kitehen, an.d not do hos cooking anywhere else. The Crimean War, whieh drew attention to so many abuses in the Army, " was followed by a Conamssion -to iaquire into barracks. This Commissmn fonnS that the annnal peace-time mor--tality in the army was nearly donbW that of the civilian male . pf the. eor- . responding age, . Tho recommendations pf this Commission were drastie, and " were followed, with the resuhk that the • peace-time death rate in the Army ■ dropped to somethingl like half that of the c&vilian male. , The barracks at present , in use, though some of them of considerable . * age, give little canse for complaint as to healthiiiess. It is the appreciation - of • the fact that healthines of -b(>dy ean'. i be' v increased , by happiness _ of mind t ! whach nnderlies the; the design of the • new. #^StandEuxst,* ifype of barrocks.