THE SANITARY CARE OP THE SOLDIER. 
225 
yon do give him longer terms he becomes so enfeebled as to be liable to 
all tropical ailments* and eventually he is thrown on the English labour 
market* weak and broken down* and sinks into the useless soldier tramp 
whom we all know so well. 
I hope the day is rapidly coming when simple expulsion from the 
army will in itself be a most serious punishment* just as the expulsion 
of a constable from the police force is a real blow to any man who 
undergoes it. The least rise in the soldier’s pay will tend to bring 
about that happy consummation. 
I would say* finally* that we want above all things to combine in this 
work. I have no power to speak in the name of the medical service ; 
but I say emphatically that our whole desire is that every want that 
you have should be met. If up to the present time there have been 
troubles and difficulties in the initiation of a new system I would beg 
yon to remember that our whole aim is to come back to you and to do 
more for you than the regimental doctor ever did* but we must remain 
a unified corps. 
The Chairman”— We shall all agree* I am sure* that we have heard a 
most interesting lecture which has covered so many points that I really 
do not know what to mention out of them. I do not know whether 
any officers have any questions that they would like to ask* but I am 
sure that Colonel Evatt will be very pleased to reply to any points 
that may be put to Mm. What he has said will lead us* I hope* to 
co-operate with the Medical Officers in many things—-in some matters* 
of course* we can do nothing. We cannot give the soldier 3600 cubic 
feet of air* but we can bring onr influence and opinion to bear upon 
the state of the barrack-rooms. Certainly one hears from Military 
Attaches and others that the barracks of the Russian and Prussian 
Guards are far ahead of our men’s barracks. 
Major F. A. Yorke —-There is one point only that I would like to 
mention with regard to what Colonel Evatt said about a soldier’s 
dining-room. In the Riding Establishment we have been very fortu¬ 
nate. It is not any credit to myself* but circumstances have so happened 
that I could get a dining-room where the men all sit down* with a 
white oil-cloth put over the barrack tables* and we were allowed to get 
carving knives and forks and all the little things that make a dining¬ 
room look comfortable. The consequence is that the men sit down 
there every day to something more like what they would have in res¬ 
pectable civilian life* and that has had a great effect. I notice when I 
go round the rooms inspecting them that there is a great absence of 
that nasty sort of faint smell of food that there used to be in the 
barrack-rooms* and the men certainly appreciate it very much. It is* 
I repeat again* no credit to myself* but circumstances so happened that 
I got a spare room given to me for the purpose. 
The Chairman— It only remains for me now to thank Colonel Evatt 
on your behalf for his most interesting lecture. 
