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department was called the Commissariat and Transport 

 Corps, not so many years ago, during one of the 

 numerous expeditions in Egypt the senior officer in 

 charge of supplies and transport to the field force, 

 assisted by several of his own department, had to 

 organise a camel train. Neither he nor any of his 

 assistants had the slightest idea how to do so, for they 

 were entirely ignorant, even in the most rudimentary 

 way, of the camel and its capacity, and of the necessary 

 equipment required. I will not say how he obtained it, 

 but in the end things came right somehow. The senior 

 got a C.B., and most of his assistants promotion or a 

 special mention in the ' Gazette.' On another occasion 

 one of these officers, who during his entire service 

 had been in a Commissariat office, was placed in charge 

 of 800 camels. Needless to say that he was quite help- 

 less, but further comment is unnecessary. The blame 

 does not rest with the officers of this department, who 

 do not go to India, where they might learn the rudi- 

 ments of their profession, or where at all events, if they 

 so chose, they might pick up a little knowledge of the 

 camel, and who have no other means of learning. It 

 is only within the last ten years that Egypt has been 

 open to them, but after all this has not been a large 

 experience, and only a small proportion of them have 

 had it. I do not wish to draw any invidious com- 

 parisons between our English and Indian Transport 

 Departments, for the latter is by no means a model of 

 perfection that is worthy of imitation, as a knowledge 

 of our recent frontier expeditions has taught us, but I 

 merely wished to point out that in India an officer has 

 more opportunities placed in his way of learning, not 



