THESE MILLION MEN.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 170, 23 March 1915, Page 5

THESE MILLION MEN.

WHAT IT REALLY MEANS. The House of Commons lias passed the Estimates for an army of 3,000,000 men. With 3,000,000 men you would be able to form no fewer than 09 i army corps. Each British army corps requires about 16,000 horses. Three million men will have ever 1,200,000 horses. They 2 buses have to be fed. A horse requires 121 b of cats and lib of hay a : day. The horse s for 3,000,000 men must have ever 30,500,0001 b of forage v. day, 'r r.n amount filling 1300 needs agon &. Supposing the order wore suddenly received to mobilise this great mass of men. Railway trains would be needed —hundreds cf them, it must net us forgotten that nil the equip rent cf the three million has to go cn these trains —horses, guns, wagons, food, forage, ammunition. An army corps requires 150 trains, so the three million —99 array corps—would completely fill close oh 15,000 trains. The full ration of a soldier on actual active service weighs, in round figures, four pounds, and costs l s 3d, including everything. Item £187,500 a. day for food alone. One day's supply of food alone weighs 5355 tons. Every day 60 goods trains packed full would have to leave for the front to provide the throo million men and their horses with the feed and forage they require. Each army corps has attached to it a field bakery column employing 260 men who bake 38,400 rations of bread daily, so the three million men would require 25,500 men to cook bread for them. Special travelling kitchens .supply the greater part cf the cocked food for the three million at the front, one of the advantages of these kitchens being that they can cock the food while the Troops are actually cn the march. Each of thec-e kitchens will supply meat and vegetables for 500 men, so no fewer than 6000 would be required to cook for the three million fighters. These three million men require 3600 Rad Cross wagons, and 150,000 beds, or mere, to provide for the casualties in accordance with the severity cf the fighting 1 . There will also be required for this department many thousands cf gallons of brandy and other stimulants, anaesthetics, and thousands cf miles of bandages and other necessaries cf the Red Cross. The three million men must be clothed, and the khaki 1 squired for r their uniforms would be nearly 6000 I miles long. To provide a recruit with his uniform, kit, and rifle, costs, on an average, £l2. The strength cf the gold reserve of the Bank of England can be faintly realised when it is stated that the Old Lady cf Threadneadle Street would have uu difficulty in providing complete outfits for over 5,000,000 men. The cost of three million men in the field L £10,500,000 a week. Hebe is a fact which brinjgs the vastness cf Lord Kitchener’s three million men home to everyone. Supposing it decided to march past ycur house. Marching day and night, week-day and Sunday, without ceasing, the three million men would take six weeks to pass-! The figures and facts in thig article ar e taken from ‘-'The Meaning of a Million Men,” by John Laurence, in ‘‘Pearson’s Magazine.”