224 
THE SANITARY CARE OF THE SOLDIER. 
considerable size, airy, and clean, where the dishes could be prepared. 
And I think also that the day is rapidly coming when you should have 
a dining-room for the men, and if I could devise such an arrangement 
in my fancy’s eye I see before me in the future a receiving-room for 
rations, opening next into a large room for preparing the food under 
the eye of the master cook, then passing by a door into the cooking- 
room, and then passing away into the dining-room where the men 
would sit down and eat their meals (not as they do now in the bed¬ 
rooms), and that same dining-room if it were properly warmed and lib 
would keep the men together in the evening. Of course, the battery 
unit and the company unit are very important to preserve; and this 
company dining-room and battery dining-room would, I think, be a 
great improvement for the soldier. 
As to the comfort and appearance of the barrack-rooms much still 
remains to be done—and while referring to this point I may quote the 
opinion of Lord Wolseley who allows me to publish his remarks. He 
says, “ when I came to Ireland over three years ago, I gave orders to 
have not only the hospitals bub all the barrack-rooms tinted a pleasant 
hue. I find it takes away the prison look from our barracks which I 
regard as most essential, and now that coloured pictures of a very in¬ 
teresting and pleasing nature can be obtained cheaply, there is no 
reason why every company should not make its barrack-rooms homely 
and comfortable.” 
{f We pay our men so wretchedly that we can only hope to entice 
men to enlist by making them happy whilst they are with us, and the 
first step towards happiness is to make mens’ dwellings bright and 
cheerful. We have done much in recent years to improve the con¬ 
dition of our men but, much, very much, remains to be done.” 
One last word, about the question of punishments. When I first 
entered the service soldiers were being continually being tried for 
habitual drunkenness. I used to keep ready in my room dozens and 
dozens of court martial certificates, and the regimental court martial 
had lost its prestige because it was doing the work that the Command¬ 
ing Officer since is doing so much better. What was the result of the 
system? You put a man in prison, and you put his work upon his 
comrades. I would say to you that so far as my experience goes long 
terms of imprisonment have done enormous injury to the soldier. 
When he comes out the man has lost strength, he plays about between 
you and between us, he is here, he is in prison, he is in hospital. I 
think, myself, the fining system for drunkenness was a tremendous 
boon, because the man went back at once to his duty—he did not throw 
it upon his comrades—and to his rations; and I am sure he was a 
better man than he was made by long terms of imprisonment, and I 
hope the day will come when you can get rid of those long imprison¬ 
ments out of the army. 
Long terms of imprisonment in Indian military prisons, often for 
unimportant crimes, act with highly injurious influence on the soldier’s 
health and his fitness for the battle of life after the soldier leaves the 
army. I cannot think that anything more than one year’s imprison¬ 
ment should be given to a soldier in an Indian military prison—for if 
