TOMMY'S GRUB.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 104, 5 November 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

TOMMY'S GRUB.

A SUGGESTION FOR WOMEN COOKS IN THE ARMY.

"Any complaints?" " Yes, sir!"

"What is it?"

" I've only got two spuds for me dinner, sir, an' one of them's an onion, sir."

Th's is a hoary-hoaded old chestnut of an Army yarn with which, I dare say, many of the old eoldiers who have none back to the Army since the war broke out have regaled the unsophisticated "youngsters" with whom they have come in contact.

It is the alleged true tale of a Tommy, di.ssatstied with the division of the spoils —I mean dinner —excitedly ventilating h's grievance to the orderly officer, and my reason for telling it will perhaps be appreciated later on. In the meantime, I may go on to explain that whenever a meal is served in a regiment on officer (usually a lieutenant) performing the duty of orderly officer of the day visits the men's messes to ascertain whether or not everything is satisfactory. His customary formula of inquiry is ti.e question, 'Any complaints?"; the usual reply "None, sir." The usual reply of '"'None, s : r," is not, however, given because there ia usually little cause for fault-finding, but because the Tommies quickly learn that complaints to the orderly-officer rre practically only the equivalent of " pouring water on a duck's back"; the orderly-officer, be he never so sympathetic, is generally quite impotent as far as imediately remedying any matter complained of is concerned. Obviously, if, for instance, the dinner of a company of men is spoilt in the cooking, the orderly-officer can't undo the mischief: he may, of course, be able to jirrange for the immediate issue, in lieu of the dinner, of some cold "bully" beef—-a delicacy Tommy, as a rule, heartily detests—but, beyond that, lie cannot do much. He would, no doubt, enter in his report —which I am not so sure is ever read by any of the higher powers for whose information it is written—the history of the incident, but that is small consolation to the Tommies' appetites. Again, if, when a meal is served, the food is plainly insufficient in quantity, a complaint to the orderly-officer, he not being a magician, will seldom make good the deficiency. He may make the most careful enquiries, but—well, it is not an »asy matter to check the weight of rations after they have been cooked. 'lhere's a wealth of meaning in that word "cooked"!

The orderly-officer, it is true, supervises the issue of rations in their uncooked form, but if, in the process of "cooking," they evaporate somewhat —well, any ." bobygee" (soldier cook) will tell you how simple it is to satisfactorily expla'n the matter to an or-derly-officer, or, in other words, "pull his leg-"

FRIVOLOUS COMPLAINTS

Another reason for Tommy being uone'too anxious to make complaints is that there is a punishable offence in the Army known as "making a frivolous complaint," and the word frivolous is as elastc as the officer who may try the offence likes to make it. I think that offence must have been invented by an Army contractor! In the case of the joker who ha J 'only two *puds and one of them an onion," providing the incident was true the word frivolous would hare stretched to a goodly term of "C.8." S'nce the war commenced I do not think that there have been many opportunities for me* to complain, even if they wished to do so, over any scarcity of ration*; in fact, according totho outcry in the press about the waste of food now go : ng on in the Army, :t must be the other way about. Before the war—well, Tommy may have got sufficient, but there was certainly no overwhelming generosity displayed by the Government. Perhaps the best way in which I can explain the difference between then and now is to state that, in the prewar davs, when for any reason the sol dier did not receive his rations in kind bo was granted, in lieu of them, a money allowance of 9d a day. Now, hi tho same circumstances, the money allowance is Its. 9d. Qn tc a big difference !

WAR AND PEACE RATIONS.

It may bo interesting, too, to compare the difference, in kind, of the ration served to the soldier in peacetime and the ration served to the soldier in war-tine.

Before the war the Government's daily issue to Tommy was:—lib. bread und'i'b. meat, including bone. That was all in kind, and the cash value of it was reckoned at 6d. In addit:on, he i was granted 3d a day (received by the CO.) towards the provision of luxuries, such as tea, sugar, milk, butter, eggs, etc., and he used to have all thosa luxuries, too. By the pooling of every man's 3d the C.O.'s managed, with the issue of the bread and meat, to provide, week in and week out, a reasonably varied and substantial menu for their respective Tommies. What waste there was—and there was waste even then—was sold ti someone in the neighbourhood for Hie feeding of pigs, etc., and the money so received credited to the reg> mental or company mess funds. On the commencement of the war the men at home at first received exactly the same scale of rations as those in France, but when it was discovered that the quantities were too much for even the healthiest appetites they were nit down. and the C.O.'s of units granted, in lieu of the reduced quantities, a cash allowance of first 4d, and then s£d a day, on behalf of each r..an. Tins money the commanding officer oi a regiment must now spend in food; he has to provide with it additional luxuries to f.fford greater variety in the menu. The actual ration, in kind, reco.ved at home bv the Tommy of to-day is:— lib. mea't. soz. tea. Ill), bread, 2oz. sugar, 2oz. bacon, salt, pepper, etc. On the face of it, this scale would seem to suggest that there was not much room for waste and. if it were on'y oossible to arrange the appetites of all' the soldiers on a standard scale there would be none. One of the chief iea.sons for waste is the variations in men's appetites. In one battalion, say in a corps of colliers or navv.es, the lib. of meat would be " well worried"' by every man jack, but, in a corps comprised mainly of men who before enlistment had been leading sedentary lives, such as clerks etc., the lib. of meat proves too much. Then again, a corps may be very mixed, and some of the men may find the rations too much and some may find them by no means enough.

WHY NOT WOMEN COOKS? To prevent waste throtigh this cause is very difficult, though T dareeay_ ; t coulrl l,e minimised by tlie introduction into the Army (at home) of a woman housekeeper and women cooks in every regiment. By their natural sex instnet to manage and economise in matters relating to food the ladies would, I

make no doubt, more than justify their employment. 1 am positive, too, that they would quickly remove wnat is absolutely the principal cause ot waste —the painfully lougu. and ready methods ot cooKing and serving meals which obtain in the Army. No one would suggest that our Tommies should dine "a la Hotel Cecil or Savoy," but tiiere :s no earthly reason why, when it is at all possible for them to have food decently served, they should not. It would save the country money. Jt present, as in the past, the Army authorities do not encourage the employment of French chefs for Tommy, but they do go as far as training a non-commissioned officer, at the Army School of Cookery at Aldershot, : in the mysteries of the culinary art. One of these trained men acts as master cook in each regiment, and holds the rank of sergeant. Too often, though, he is more sergeant than cook. For assistants he has to depend on any privates he can get the serger.itmajor to apportion him, and, as there :g a good deal of additonal work, but no additional pay, for the assistant cooks, it is quit, easy to understand they are not wholehearted enthusiast* at their jobs. Tommy, poor suffers accordingly. Occasionally a regiment possa - • s a jewel of a master-cock or assistantcook, and when such is so great indeed is Tommy's worship of the wonderful one.

Against my suggestion that women should be employed as cooks it may be argued that it would he impolitic to employ women among soldiers. To that argument 1 reply that the same objections were raised when Florence Nightingale went out to nurso the soldiers in the Crimea. Now the nursing sisters are an invaluable instituton in the Army.

FEEDING TOMMY AT THE FRONT

Before I conclude this article it may be of special interest to those with near and dear ones at the front to state what the food is that is allowed to the brave boys there. The following is the daily scale per man : lilb. meat (fresh) or 1U). preserved. li lb. bread or lib. biscuits. 4 oz. bacon.

3oz. cheese. 2oz. peas, beans, or dried vegetables. o-Soz. tea, 4oz. jam, 3 oz. sugar, 1-lOth gill lime juice, J gill rum, and 2 oz. tobacco (weekly). Quite a generous scale, but not a fraction more than the gallant lads deserve. The cooking of the rat ons at the front is, now that there is so much stationary warfare, conducted, as nearly as circumstances will allow, on much the same lines as at home; that is, each regiment has its own little cookhouse in a dug-out—and the cooks ga!iantly prepare their comrades' grun while shot and shell arc screeching by and over them. It is dangerous, highly dangerous, but it must be done. Tnc soldiers fond is as important as ammunition. Napoleou knew the vast importance of the soldiers' stomach in military movements—and so does Tommy. The glad call of ''Come to the cook-house door, boys, come to the cook-house door," whether it is clarioned forth on a bugle or whispered quietly and silently, 'in face of the enemy, "is a particular favourite of his—and why not.