ENGLAND'S NEW ARMY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 212, 15 February 1915, Page 6

ENGLAND'S NEW ARMY.

GUNS AND SUPPLIES. "PARKING" OF BATTERIES. (Riulyajtl Kipling in the San Francisco Examiner.) When a battery conies into camp it '•"parks" nil six guns at the appointed place, side I»v side i n one mathematically straight line, and the accuracy of the uli»ur,iem. is, like ceremonial drill -with the feet, a fair test of its attainment*. The •.roini'l was n:> treat for parkin;,'. Specimen i:vc; and draining ditcles had io be iuoii'ed and circumvented. Th" giimrrs, their reins, like trims, t!so ground, were equally vet and the feV-t dr.iji)-t 'l away !il; • f.rr.i'l from the ore.,, a Ar'l Ih'"' V '' l s '' » clerks, iiicfltFair.'. assistants. atrl deli'sr,' men -anvtaoe; a.ed o\ e, \ta i-u v> a *:!:•.«*». H'li i'l* a! ' at hr,. t i,. i:> lh>>ir -.t-1 ■- raid ihv'rr oilers said iiUser.i'iis'i l'> thesa. , ! T'i!"V e'.-.ne ir. acrir-i what hau o'V" |,n n inn ; wheded with tight brace:halted, niihwiAtil. the v.'i«*t'Mim : ''\ u 'Vi ! ed oil' to the'.r I icke.s. and behoel, i | six v.'cri' Mt. i.rt'f.srlv \ylu'iv ii I should have l;ee : . ; lib io th" leae us! i . I an inch. _ ... j Ye 1 , 1 i■e v 1 see J e e - v.ind idov. in;* <■ j last for." e I'- i's ' ■ v-! from each kat'!-? I mwli' (• ver ni ixsv.ly ilv same ar-gV ITt wa.i i*tl <:!(! kr.'.-va >-y»isstii« , ;= fake'' ;;r> I e Oe/if« •!" i'l t':e nurse of the day t

work. . "Our ir.e',l liavi me advantage, said a. voice, "As Territorials they v.eve introduced Id unmade horses one- a ye:, ■ at training. So they've never been a-r----ciif-tomed to made horses." «4n,l what do the horses pay aboui it all':" i ask. d, rem-ahs'iaa' what I liad seer, o'l <hr read* h early ''They said v. {.'x*l «1.~l it Ik'-..-, r.nr chaps eeaih! make ad-ownae 'em. Thev kiee.'-.' r.ow.

TIIK SII.KXT CUN'XKUS. Allah iii'vcr inii'i: l ''''! £:in!NW:; to -j liu own arm ii«s tlsrre for htm TV batteries olt-<;uialed in Mler.ee. tamrm one notiml os nil sUles Unit lit!. «• q»«"earesscs between men r.ml lv-sst-ai.'-.-tioimto tso * ( - Surely the gunn.rV relation to !n.< is mure intimate even ilnit the ewv.lr man's; for a lest tor* only turns (•>"- aii v into infantry, but trouble i;i a :r>'.u team r.iun mean death all round../*! this is a gunner's war. TUk young, ,V ' L officers said so joyously as they parsed ... and fro picking up scandal about hrea-4 sj'raos and breeching-.: examining tlif collars of amnraiiitini) watr-son teams. '111(1 listeninr- to remarks about shoes, r" Local blacksmiths assisted by _ the batterv itself, do tin- shoein;:. 1 her,are master smiths fed important furriers, who have cheerfully thrown up, .looil wa«fs to help the frame, and tie- r horses reward them by keeping <H. A fair proportion of the horses are , —there was never a fiutiner yet Siitwfied witii his team or its rations 1 ::1 lie had left the batterv--!,ut tb- ■' their work as steadfastly and. wl-.o'.e-lieartedly i's the luen.

I am persuaded they also like be:e.e in society and workin" on.', their dailv problems of draught and d : reotion. TieKr.trlish, too. and T.on<lcner> parti.-u'a:\v are the'kindest ami rensnnaW.* "■ folks to their animnls. if it were our 1 iil-ise: i striv'Jy to U'V.b r-rste mr;selves fi,r tb-< next few vears. we weird say that tie' territorials' batteries li i t already done wonders, but perhaps it is better to let it all ;-o with the "nid'nmr admis-i;,;: wi-nn'-- out of a wrnisrinor wet lrr,:nlvi(ii -i- ''We 1 !, it isn't so da:;:' b.' con.-idrriny "

, MISSED HOWITZERS. I lift them tnkim; their dinner in imss tins to their tents, with n strenuous afternoon's eleaning un ahead of them, and a detail under orders to take over seme more horses from the railway station. The bi.u' pnrl: held nearly SOOft men. I had seen r,o more than a few hundreds, and missed the howitzers' batteries after all.

A cook pheasant chaperoned me down (lie drive, complaining loudly that where he used to walk with his ladies under the beech trees, some unsporting people. had built a miniature landscape with tiny villages, cliurehe.s and factories, ami came there daily to point, cannon at it.

"Keep away from that place," said T. "or you'll find yourself in a field kitchen." ' .'Not me!" lip rrowoil. I'm as Kter.il 23 golf courses!" There vriis a little town a couple of milrs <!<nvn the road where on;' us "I to luneii in tile old (lavs and liavo tinhotel to oneself. N"\v there. are six ever-changing officers in billet there, and the astonished houses quiver all day to traction engines and high-piled lorj ries. A unit of the Army Service Corps i>nd some mechanical t.r.nsport lived near the station. "Are they easy to find?" I asked of a wandering private with the hands of a sweep and the head of a Christian among the lions.

ell, the A.S.C. are in the territorial drill hall for one tiling; and for another, you're likely to hear US! There's some motors come in from Bulford——" lie snorted and passed on of petrol. The drill .-lied was peace and comfort. The A.S.C. was getting ready for pav day. and for a concert that - cvonii" - '. Outside, in the wind, and the occasional ram spurts, life wits different. The Pulford motors and smother crocks sat- in a side road between what had been the local garage and a n< wlv-erccfed workshop of creak in;; scaffold poles and bellying slattinjr rick cloths, where a forge glowed and general repairs were being ellectid. Beneath the motors, men lay on their buck.-, and called to their friends to puss them spanners, or for pity's sake to shove another suck under their mud-plastered head*.

VOICES IX GEAR BOXES. A corporal win) ].:ul been nine venrs a fitter and seven yonrs in a city ffarbriefly outlined the more virulent iii-eases that develop in Oovernnientowmd roiling stock (T heard quite a lof about ISulford). Hollow voices from below eviscerated fr,. ar l)oxo8 confirmed imn. We withdrew into the shelter of the nek cloth workshop—the corporal, tic Migrant, who had been a carpenter i a business of his own, and. inciotntally, had served in the Boer war: jwmthor >'ern - caiit, who was a member "I the Master Builders' Association, and a private who had also been a fitter and el:atifl cin'. and a few other things. The sergee.iit wl,„ kept a ponltrv farm in Surrey, had some duty elsewhere. A man at the carpenter's bench was iiiiiMiing a spoke for a. nowlv-nainted can-. IFe squinted along it. I hut s tunny, said the master build 'T- in his own business In-'.' j, ! l!s >' llian do woodwork. I'll! i! s all fimnv."

, "What. r a servant stniek ">•. limvii:;,' to put two and Hirer i-.imii :i v.T-1: nirii to and nn.V'"' 1 "-. Tlifl's wlnw a modified '-'•n-. nn'i i'-n ti,r the j»,» n that n-nn't roV "I'd be useful to us. We want > v "I wood, we do." teat file." T |, is was ~ ;. 1:1 >\ I'-'i-'v, eome from beneath >in nn. |>riiKali!i> ISulford. Someone ask'd ::l!Meail.y "jf !,,, £,.]) ], if , wjf| in i,». Vi -. ;i , vjt!l tn . ■•Voi.ll find it in the tool chest." sii'd (he .en-ant. It van in his own too (■ !.•< and a beauty, wliicli lie bad eonlnliuted to the common stock "And what sort of men lmvo von ml in tin- unit?" I asked. 3 b *

"Every sort you can think There I isn't a thing you could not have made | here if you'd wanted to. But" —the' corporal who had been a fitter spoke ' with fervour—"you can't expect us to make big ends, can you? That five-ton Bulford lorry out in the wet ■" "And she isn't the- worst," said the master builder. "But it's all part of the job. And so funny when you come <o think of it. Mo painting carts, and certificated plumbers loading beef." "What about the discipline?" I ask-

ed. The corporal turned a fitter's eye on me ''Tile mechanism is the discipline,'' In- said with most profound truth, "'b'""'" kin' a sick car on the read is discipline, too. What about the disciplineV" lie t.nrned to the sergeant with the carpenter's chest. There was one sergeant of regulars, with twenty service b-hi.nd him and a. knowledge of human Jlit' 3]Vj». "Veil ought to know. You've just be! n mad" c< rperal." said the sergeant of Vi-'in'.ars. "V-,"<il. Ui.-rcV. !'> much which evervbodv knows has ee!, to lie done that j that—v.-hv, We ail turn in and do it," uue'.li the corporal. ' '-Yes. that's just about, how the case stands," : 'lid «):e •' ergcant j>f regulars. "Come aed see our stores. Thev were beautifully arranged in a > 111>.]. 'which felt like a mouastcrv aft-r the windy, clashing vcral outride: and the \euag private who acted a", eh'av."' came from same railway ciiie-e

ha i th- Him. l:ee ; , fae- <•! t!e> cha ic. 're in hi!k-:s in the town," said ill." ivrvvani v.'hn he'd l»rt n a _p;V'y "Hut l'n a nmrried !«:>n. 1 IV I, to have '"en bil!et"d Oji us. ■ij j' 1 don't want Io incenvenicnce other ■ r'i ; r nee.oie. So I've knocked m a hunk fie.', m'vsidf on the premises. It's handier to. the stores."

AV.\T?N!NC NOT NEEDED. vi-d what had been the local ■:sra!S'.' The m-chanielrnn-p-sri were in full ]', i e-si< n. 1 ink'evie;; |he gizzardrv v.- ears W" dis. u.ised ehewed u l ' , '(samides at haadi anil the civil V. e,;!,lir.n vi'",v of military, hiie car V<l te'd the tale of a eh in r. viid'and tiiivn v.dio, enly a your aga. or ihe oe;a -ion of sonv maneimvres, preaei:1 a serno-, warning his Hock to guard Vl -. ; v,nen i'o'k a,;;aiii-t ihe e.ohliers. "'And when von ihi'ik—'ivh'en van V,'." said tlie corjiia-al. "wha.t life in those litt'e towns really is." He whittled. "New ea-ea- and we Us paid ei fh- drill shed."

Th" rean T ran across IVrc was a. sergeaat wh.o laid served in the Ml in '.he I'icnic v.e u-ieii to- call a r.'av, lie had been a private chauffeur same —lon'; (-'sough to catch Ihe profe-:-s'onal !«ok, but was joyously reverting service tvjie again. The men' lined out, were called out. saluted emphatically ni- the pay table, and fell back with their emoluments. , Thev -sailed at each other.

"An" it's nil so funny." murmured the master builder in mv om". '"About a ttuarter —no —less than a quaiv.er —of what one,'ud be makin r ' on one's own.'

UNION HAT!'. ■-•! '•Two ten a week and all found, 1 vs'!. An' only two ears to look after," >;-id a voice behind. "An' if I'd bee;: ask'd —only asked i;> lie down in the nv.v! II the afLenioon"'—the speaker leaked at his ten shilling paper note -iii.-l ha'r a handful <:f silver. Someone v alued to know sotto voce if ''That was union rates," end the grin spread among the uniformed experts. "Thank Heaven!"' said one of them at last. "It's too dark to work on those !)]■<ml Bulfor.ls any mere to-day. V.'o'l! !>■'; ready for the concert."

]':i'. it was not too dark half an honr later for my car to lreet a big brry .■'ermi-jg hack i>, the v. lie! and w, t fr«»; the northern camps. She gave me London allowance —half an inch between hub and bub—swung her corner like a Brookland's belle, changed her g. ar for uphill with a sweet eliek, and charged awav. Fou aught I knew she was driven by an ex—"Two ten a week an' all found"'—or who ilex*. month might be dodging shells witii her and thinking it all so funny.

Horse,-foot, even the guns may sometime get a little rest, but so long as men cat thrice a day there is no rest for Ihe A.S.C. They carry the campaign on their ever-enduring backs.