OUR SOLDIERS FOOD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2159, 1 December 1885, Page 2

OUR SOLDIERS FOOD.

So. much of late years has Ipeen done to improve the position of our soldiers with regard to their pay, clothing, and even food, that they may feel themselves creatures to be enyiecl,. Sir." said pensioner from tlie Royal' 1 Artillery," if 1 had my time over again, I'd be a soldier. The soldier of to-day is a gentleman, sir," And so he is., In oomparing his position , now to what it was fifty years ago, what an immense improvement do we see. It is not our intention now, says the "Army arid Mavy Gazette,"' to find fault with the manner in which our soldiery are olpthed, or treated, though strange to say,'on pointy much tyas, still to be accomplished..''' All wd desire to do is tq suggest an alteration and improvement in the hours and mode of feeding Tommy Atkins, it may be assumed that within the memory of the oldest veteran of our army the hours for meals have, like the-laws of the Medes and Persians, never been changed. During the interval between the cessation of hostilities upon the Continent of' Europe ant} the commencement of the Crimean War, our soldiers on hqme stations passed a tolerably idle existence.. iii todays, when drills, fatigues, &c M were much fewer than they are now, the houra for fpeding 'were, perhaps, nqt altogether jq, convenient; but now, wl)en' %. parget gl'ounds are alive witl) men from " early morn to dewy eve," some alteration In the time for meals ismuchneeded. Many will doubtless recollect that during the Aldershot season of 1877, when, the reserves were up,' reviews, sham fights, m\nor tactics, &c,, were'the order of order of the day, The Bummer qf that year wag an exceptionally hot one. Frequently the mtii'Vere from half-past Six,to,seven oclock. From those hours till two orthree o'clock in the afternoon but little solid food entered Thomas Atkins' interior. ■So prostrated

with hunger and fatigue were our Boldiers after an exceptionally Harassing field ' ' day, that they fell out in numbers ' on their way back to quartcerSjbeing , quite ; unable ,to keep their ■ places in the ranks; It' has. truly been said that an Englishman fights best upon his stomach." Letters appeared in th« Press upon this subject, and at. last the' authorities acknowledged the necessity for serving out a ration of bread and cheese to the men on days when ftlong'field day was expected. Our Boldierß of to-day are V very young—too young to the minds of . many experienced and practical officers. Consequently, their constitutions require grerter care than they would do if they : were older men. It is said that drunkenness is the curse of our army.-."lt is toe ■ curse of the poorer classes at large, but io is most exceedingly detrimental to the health of our soldiers! It was- remarked by an old sergeant-major—a veteran wearing many decorations—that:."'if the youngsters had more to eat, and were not . allowed to go to hed feeling hungry, drunkenness in the army would rapidly decline." . ■ Whether it would or not remains to be seen; but it would he worth while to try the expwjtant of giving the men extra field days the soldiers' shor invariably carry their bread and cheese in their haversacks. Many commanding officers.' dislike seeing, the . haversacks unrolled, but iu these days of. drilling uuon the well-known Fox Hills, they should: shut their eyes to such trifling eye-sords, and remember that, after all, soldiers are but flesh and blood._ The man of-business jn the office rarely,', if' ever, 7 eats a heavy lrieal.in tfe middle of the dajr; lie probably takes but a slight refreshment, reserving himself for the time when his work ia over for the day, when he oan enjoy his dinner, and feel. all the better that he has not to hurry back to his work again. Is the British soldier's ; interior economy cqnstructed upqu ft different principle to that of the man of business ? It is to he hoped that some person o,f authority, having the- interes afthearmy at heart, will give his fatten-" tion to the matter,/and the experi« ' ment of altering the hours of .soldier^ 1 meals. It is confidently expected that some such arrangement as in now proposed would do more to wean the soldiers from the dens of iniquity—the low drink.- ' ing shops which infest the neighborhood of barraoks and oamp-than all the teetotal lectures ever given. Our. young diers will fill out more rapidly, would put on more muscel, and be better able to stand up against the large amount of fatigue, labour, and drill they aye sle(i upon to undergo. It in calculated that Thomas Atkins is on his feet at drill, or fatigue work,' for eleven hours a' day, Sunday excepted.. Surely something ' might be done to enable him better to bear up against the fatigue which,, to a fully-developed man, may mean little, but which cannot fail to be most injurious to one of poor physiqije, This question <>f food is-becoming every day more important, and the arrangement we propose would, we believe, be popular with thq rank and file of the army.' It might, at any rate, be tried experimentally in one - regiment to see how it worked. In thQ opinion of many commanding offioera, It would have a most beneficial effect in decreasing the offence of drunkenness. 1 We throw out the suggestion -as one which ■ might fairly be discussed by those inter-, ested in the wellfare and the well-beingl • . of the rank.and file,—" Home News." •