What Kharki is.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 105, 6 February 1900, Page 3

What Kharki is.

The tawny yellow hue now so jnnnlur to us ao the distinctive o >Li ii- of the mv.io in worn by our ijooniiil fores, owes its origin to !".,(!■ v, in !i uh o-jivjtry the Imperial , s.uj, including the Tmpeual seivic ti(/>ps of Ijlie various native States, ha\e been dressed in Kuarki £01' man) years past. Vccoiding to Lieuwn uit-Colouel Pov. ell's tuhole on tne subject in ' jJJackwood's," khaki, not kharki, as it is usually vu'HLen, id the Indian word for a mineral dye of yellowish hue, much used by the natives. The Indian army wai. 1 the first to adopt this colour, and as long ago as 1880 the natjve regiments were dressed in ordinary white dnlJ which had been dyed khaki colour. When firsi j adopted thu d>« vvas by no .mans satisfactory . a < if, washed more or less pale, and In > difficulty of tlje various re jiuion's was to keep the men's umiuruis of the same shade. A winrj of the regiment, pe-rhapa, \sould have a periodical washing, but even this failed to preserve the uniformity of colour, and the result was that, after a tune, the regiment presented a.n untidy and dirty appearance, and became an eyesore to the officers, as well as io Ihe men themselves. The custom in the Indian army is for regiments to make their own uniforms. They indent on the cottou mills, now so numerous in India, for white drill in the piece. The regimental dyer then dyes it kharki, and the regimental darzi, or tailor, makes it up' into uniforms. In the Indian army nearly everything worn by the men is dyed this colour ; the turbans worn by the native troops, the helmet-covers worn over the white helmets of the British officers, the covers of the water-bottles, the haversacks and their straps are all dyed khaki colour in the bazaars which are attached to each regiment. Ahout five years ago two Englishmen,

Messrs Lemann and Gatfci, discovered, an absolutey fast dye, which can be applied to either woollen or cotton clothings, and this is now used throughout the whole army. Lancashire, it may bo added, is the seat of the manufacture of kharki, the drills, serges, corduroys and pattees made there being sent to agents in India,, which country, until about three or four years ago, absorbed the wh»le output. Since i he Qupen'tf Diamond Jubilee, howover, the Australian colonies have adopted kharki, and the colour has now become almost universal.