DESERTIONS FROM THE BRITISH ARMY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5278, 23 February 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

DESERTIONS FROM THE BRITISH ARMY.

The number of desertions from the army advertised in the London Police Gazette during 1877 amounts to 7500. Of course this cannot be taken as n reliable record of the number of men who have deserted during that period, as one man very frequently figures more than once. It is by no means an uncommon event for a man to enlist in three or four regiments during the same year, deserting from each as soon as he has obtained a kit, which is forthwith disposed of, and, it would appear, without difficulty, though it is strange that it should lie so easy to sell property bearihg the Government mark. In 1876 the number of desertions advertised was 7759, so there is a small decrease; but those 7759 cases of desertion appear, according to Parliamentary returns, to have been the act of only 4835 men; sb that a large number of tho culprits 1 must have r deserted at least twice. It is a/great'blot on tho Brilisk army that this crime should Have . assumed'such formidable proportions. Injthe armies of France and Germany, with their hundreds; of thousands of , men, 300 desertions in the year is set down as; an outside figure; and these 1 armies do not consist of men voluntarily enlisted, but of conscripts, who would naturally be supposed to take every opportunity of leaving a service distasteful to most ; of, them,: and hateful to many. Of course, England offers more facilities for desertion than either Franco or Germany ; lint the fact remains, after making all allowances; that in our own army, which is the best paid, the best fed, and the best clothed in the world, the rate of desertion is higher than in any other. It might be | advantageous to the service if Mr. Gathorne

Hardy were to cause inquiry to be made of apprehended deserters as to the reasons which induced them to abscond. , There is certainly something rotten in our treatment of the sol- ■ dier'; we cannot suppose that so large ft proportion, of the array would .wantonly throw away the advantages of short service 'and deferred pay without .some good reason, ; Of course, if a man makes a trade of enlistment and desertion—“jumping the bounty,” as,our American cousins term it—nothing in ; the internal organisation of the army can prevent him ; but how are we to account for: the desertion of men who have joined the army honestly intending to adopt it as their profession ? •: ■