:i:ui:ir 
y 2, 1915 
LAND AND WATER 
CHOOSING KIT 
Practical Hints 
{Continued from pa^e 179) 
THESE articles are written from practical experi- 
ence of military matters, with a view to keeping 
our readers in touch with the variousrequirements 
of active service. Changes of climate and the peculiar 
conditions under which the present campaign is being 
waged render different items of equipment advisable at 
different times, and we are in touch with officers at the 
front and others from whom the actual requirements of 
officers and men can be ascertained- The articles are 
not intended to advertise any particular firm or firms. 
Water Bottles 
Once upon a time I went looking for a boot, and found 
it : the manner of the finding has already been related in 
these columns. In the same way, I have been looking for a 
water bottle recently, and in the same way I have found it. 
Not the sort of thing that one sees every day, and, if a user, 
swears at every day, but it among water bottles. For tlie 
sealed pattern water bottle is a thing of horror, a pattern 
that should have been abandoned with the muzzle-loading 
musket and the powdered queue. Doubtless it will be 
abandoned when some inventor has come along and 
discovered a way of carrying water in slabs in the vest 
pocket, but at the present time many officers and men are 
suffering from it. 
Remediable Evils 
In the first place, the shape is wrong. In spite of its 
small capacity, tlie regulation water bottle would not go 
into a tunic pocket without strain, and its curve, supposedly 
designed to fit the body of the wearer, merely makes the 
thing more bumpy. Then it is covered with a species of 
felt, which, after a little use, becomes an admirable trap for 
catching and holding water, and wears into holes on the 
side ne.xt the wearer. Finally, the aluminium thing of this 
curved and felt-covered pattern, since it cannot be soldered 
and has to be pressed (or whatever the technical term is) at 
the seams, leaks on the slightest or no provocation, and is so 
thin that one can make it bulge in all directions by merely 
pressing with the finger. Aluminium has not enough body 
and solidity about it to render it serviceable under cam- 
paigning conditions. 
The Ideal 
There are other faults. The number of angles inside 
the ordinary water bottle make it very difficult to clean, 
and the material of which the officers' pattern is composed 
renders it impossible to carry soda-water {and a flavouring), 
or, in fact, anything but real simon-pure water, without 
turning the metal black and rendering the water bottle 
useless. Thus, in shape, in the material with which it is 
covered, in the metal of which it is made, and in every way, 
the ordinary water bottle condemns itself. One might, as 
a last accusation, refer to the cork, which has a habit of 
breaking, and another and worse habit of smelling evilly, 
even if water alone has been used in the bottle. The ideal 
water bottle is free of all these faults, and it is to be had if 
one will take the trouble to get it. 
The Ideal Described 
It may best be described, as regards shape, by saying 
that the side which fits next the wearer is slightly curved to 
fit, and is U-shaped ; on to this is fitted an oval section of 
metal, so that the bottle is half an oval in form, with a flat 
top on which is a screw stopper — not a cork. The bottle is 
made of nickel, which in itself is practically non-corrosive, 
and is silver-plated inside, which renders it absolutely non- 
corrosive, no matter what drinkable fluid is placed in it. It 
is not covered with the felt that absorbs water with pure joy, 
and make; the wearer's life a misery and his language 
questionable, but with a canvas that will rather repel water 
than hold it, and, in any case, could not hold as much as the 
old-time felt if it tried. Further, this canvas will remain in 
good, sound condition for some time after the equivalent of 
felt has worn to holes. The bottle itself will slip easily into 
a tunic pocket— not that one would want to take it off its 
strap and put it in a tunic pocket, but as an illustration of 
its size and portability— and it holds a pint and a half, which 
is as much as one need carry. On seeing it I suggested one 
small improvement : that the screw stopper should be 
attached to the bottle by a small chain, as is done in the 
case of the regulation pattern. With this small addition 
the water bottle will be as near the ideal, apparently, as it 
is possible to get. 
iContiniud on page 195) 
MILITARY TAILORING 
AND EQUIPMENT 
Our Service Department specially caters for the supply o( 
unifoims, equipment, and warm woollen clo'hing for our Soldiers 
Officers Great Coat £3 15 
(Half or fully lined camel Heece, £5 5 0) 
British Warm Coals, lined fleece ■ - £2 1 5 and £4 4 
Officers' Khalii Shirts, with detachable collars 8/11, 11/6, and 14/6 each 
Cap MufHers, make ideal sleeping caps or neck wrapt, I/- to 2/6 each 
etc.. etc. 
Lambsk.n Shell, to be worn under tunic or great cost. 
The on'y preventive agamst cold and wet. £2 2 
WRITE FOR COMPLETE SERVICE LIST 
^~^-^___ rA« /.ir>,n Hall 
Keqent SlrcH. Lonilon \V 
SERVICE KITS 
—IN 48 HOURS. — 
Every detail guaranteed correct, in 
accordance with War Office regulalioni. 
Patterns and Estimate post free. 
A large number of half-finished Service 
Jackets always on hand, which can be 
completed in eight hours. 
INFANTRY SWORD £4 14 6 
WEST & SON, Ltd 
Military and Sporting Tailors, 
151 NEW BOND STREET, W. 
(Opponite Conduit Str<»^t-1 
'Phon« — Cerr»rd 8I6I. 
Chamois Leather Towels 
Price 
4 6 each. 
SILVER TINDER LIGHTERS 'fel" 
WIRE NIPPERS 
Insulated Handles. Comrletc in Leather Case. 12/6 
. . Extra Large and Strong . . 
HAVERSACKS 
made from an Officer's design. 
Price - - 12/6 
Send for full List of War Equipmet\t. 
SWAINE G ADENEY 
By appointment to H.M. The King 
185 PICCADILLY. W. 
THOMAS & SONS' 
NEW PUTTEE 
Covers the leg in three turns. 
Made in waterproof cloth. 
Takes about quarter the time to wind and unwind 
that an ordinary puttee does. Price 8/6 pair 
Another Novelty is a pair of chamois leather 
" shorts " opening at the back ; very warm and 
convenient. Price 25/- 
THOMAS & SONS 
32 
Military Tailors and 
Breeches Makers 
BROOK STREET, 
W. 
»93 
