Provsioning an Army.

Manawatu Herald, 25 January 1900, Page 2

Provsioning an Army.

i Ivvio iv mug an m inj- . The truth of an old saying that " An army marches on his stomach *" • is (says a correspondent of The ; Timeß) evidently realised by the War Office authorities, -if one may judge from their arrang|mentiiOar ( provisioning our troops |. in Bol|||. | Africa. The basis of those arrange- | ments is that there should be fonr | months' supplies always available at | ! tin seat of war for 116,000 troop. ! j and native transport helpers andj,,; 51,000 horses and mules. At tho^j: present moment there are only three i | months' supplies on hand in Sonth j Africa, but the additional necessary j | to bring tbe totals up to four months" limit are being despatched with '■ \\ 2 speed, and that limit once reached j wiil *be maintained as long as. may i be thought neoessary. j Of the enormous quantities of fooflij' \ which go to make up a four montW supply for this number of men and : i animals few persons can have even the remotest idea. The one i ; item of preserved meat alone stands at 12,000,0001 b, and of biscuit there ,< is the came quantity. Coffee stands a* 400,0001 b, tea. at 200,0001 b, j sugar at 2,200.0001 b, compressed !, veg. tabl es, at 800,0001 b, and salt i 400,0001 b. One article of die} ! wbich haa been found partioularly ! suitable for troops on active service j is a preparation of meat and vegetables cooked together. Of thia ; a single contractor i* sending tins at j, the rate of half a million a month. Of condensed milk, sweetened and aosw. «ten . _, four months' supplies! | represent 860,000 tins. ; j Particularly interesting is the item of jam. The commodity was first j ! given to British troops in the j | Boudan expedition of 1884 and 1365 ; and it was afterwards supplied to |j' the Ashanti expedition. It waa re- J j ported on very favourably on each ! j. occasion, for not only was it regarded-; | with favour by the troop 3, but ib was jj; found to be a distinctly healthy food ij especially on aocount of its antiscor- \ butic properties — an important con v . i side, ation in the absence of a good ijjj supply of fresh vegetables. Jam has j therefore, taken ita permanent place : : | as one good thing among others for ; | troops to fight on, and the quantities .: to be kept in South Afrioa aJkC:four ; 1 months' reserve amount to ntf less ! j than 1,450,0001 b, consigned in tius i | i ' eaoh containing a single pound. \ In regards to liquids the list pro™; | r vides for 80,000 gallons of rum, 12,- J i 000 bottle of whisky, 82.000 bottles ' of port wine, nearly 400,0001 b weight of lime juice, a vast qu-^L'V of " spartlets " for making soafTflatfir and 80 to .a of alum for purifying i . pringa or river water of which the quality may be doubtful. Of tobieca the quantity sent out by the g j|li,r Office for the four montha ia 4USOO ' lb, this, of course, being quite in- > dependent of the amount con* i tributed by private donors. It should be said, however, tbat the troops have to pay for the tobacco supplied by the War Officu, i doing so at the rate of 13 per lb, w> * ■ that uo doubt, they will be doubly , pleased to get free gifts from th. i British public. Of ordinary hospital supplies the quantities are based op ; the supposition that 10 per cent, of I fhe troops are always either sick or I wounded ; though, happily, this per r centage is never reached. In the way of disinfection, also, it - is assumed that during c. eh four 5 months there will — or may— bere* j quired 60001 bof carbolic acid ; powder, 20 tons of chloride of tlurfffi 10,000 gallons of iz al, and ten tons ofMDougall's disinfecting powder, Still another item on the list is thai • of 80,0001 bcf candles. For the I horaea and mules there are provided [ for th. same period, 25,000 tonu I 1 of hi.y, 81,000 tons of oats, and 8000,; 1 ton. of bran. \