PREVENTION OF WASTAGE. 47 



obtain fresh horses, those on charge of units were worked 

 to the Hmit of their physical endurance, and then were left 

 to die on the veldt. 

 Truly a very sad state of affairs, and absolutely out of all 

 keeping with the nature of a Britisher who loves his animals. 



However, the Army at home learned its lesson, and in a 

 matter of Remount Intelligence, the War Office in its Remount 

 Department at the commencement of the late World War was 

 in full possession of the remount resources of every country, and 

 had its machinery ready for operation. Looking at the question 

 .purely in the light of reduced wastage and inefficiency of 

 animals, and furthermore in constructive criticism towards that 

 end, I am inclined to think that the organisation of Remount 

 .Service at home is still susceptible of improvement. India is 

 far ahead of it in that respect. If efficiency is to be maintained, 

 a Remount Service should be a self-contained Corps and with a 

 policy admitting of a continuity of service and experience, in the 

 same manner as other branches of the Army. The personnel 

 of Remount Depots pre-war was a mixture of civilians and 

 Army Service Corps soldiers ; those in France, excepting the 

 Indian Remount Depot, were borne on the strength of Army 

 Service Corps so far as other ranks were concerned, while the 

 ■officers were retired officers or others specially entertained. I 

 trust it will not be thought of me that I am actuated by any 

 -carping spirit in making these remarks, but I am sure those 

 who have had the experience of the late war will readily agree 

 that for - real efficiency all Administrative Services should be 

 self-contained. 



With the great tendency in "freshly joined remounts to sick- 

 ness of a communicable nature, i.e. respiratory sickness 

 particularly, it is most necessary and important to exclude all 

 sickness from Remount Depots. It is an impossible situation, 

 for instance, to combine a Remount Depot and a Veterinary 

 Hospital in war whether under purchasing arrangements, or in 

 the field. It is inviting disaster, and placing a millstone round 

 the neck of Remounting that will drown it. Nothing should 

 be maintained in Remount Depots but animals fit to issue, or 

 reasonably so. Any unfit should be rigidly excluded, and 

 relegated to Veterinary Service whose function it is to handle 

 -this category. Hence the Remount Service would be "Providers'' 



