220 
THE SANITARY CARE OF THE SOLDIER. 
same way the food also was provided by the Commanding Officer in 
the different regiments. It was a bad system, and the Government 
put an end to it in 1856. The soldier drew his pay in full, and the 
Commanding Officer cut his ration money out of it until the Govern¬ 
ment took over the rationing and knocked 8^d. to 4|d. off for the cost 
of the ration. The soldier thus gets his J lb. of meat, 1 lb. of bread, 
and. his pay besides. The regimental rationing system broke down 
through regimental neglect. Of late years we have heard much about 
the improvement of the soldier’s food, but I would say that the soldier 
has not gained very much from the State despite all this outcry. We are 
pursued by two things in the army, the dripping-pan and the stock-pot, 
but the original J lb. of meat is all we have as a basis to work upon. I 
would say that the question of the inspection of rations is most impor¬ 
tant. No one, I think, can see the Army Service Corps Officers with¬ 
out seeing the enormous deal they have gained by the instruction 
classes which were formerly held at Smithfield and are now going on 
at Edinburgh, but I think that that information should not be limited 
to a Corps which does not serve in India, where 70,000 English soldiers 
are serving under trying circumstances; you cannot conceive how bad 
the Indian rations are, and we all want to get a certain proportion of 
this instruction. There should be in every regiment a certain number 
of officers trained in this ration passing, and the Medical Officer should 
certainly get an opportunity of going through the course, because the 
hospital rations do not come before those highly-trained officers at all. 
By long service in India our eyes get trained down to the bad Indian 
ration, and when one comes home it is well to go up to Smithfield again 
to find out what the proper standard of the English ration is. 
I would also like to say that the Medical Officer has continually 
before him the question as to his right on a Board. Owing to the 
quibble as to what his position is, many of them are afraid to say one 
word on the Boards. It is very trumpery. We send down four men 
to do what three might do, and the Medical Officer is afraid to say one 
word until he is asked. I have myself consulted officers and they 
have said that he should certainly have an initiative. Is he to remain 
silent and wait until the President of the Board asks him ? I say he 
should be a member of the Board and point out freely and fully any¬ 
thing that goes wrong. Why should our little trumpery frictions affect 
the army. I say a curse on both your houses. While we are struggling 
and fighting the soldier falls to the ground, but if we are to combine 
we can certainly do the work better, and we cannot do the thing with¬ 
out hearty co-operation. 
As regards the question of the soldier’s ration, if you would like to 
compare it with the officer’s ration, come with me on board an Indian 
troop-ship and see the two divisions of the ship-—half the ship full of 
officers and half of men. I rise and come out of my cabin, and I have 
at half-past 6 o’clock a very grateful cup of coffee and bread and 
butter; the soldier at the same time has his coffee and bread in the 
fore-compartment, so far we are both equal. At half-past 8 o’clock 
I come downstairs and have a capital troop-ship breakfast, a very good 
English breakfast; the soldier has his breakfast along with my early 
