April 3, 1915. 
LAND AND ,W. A T E R. 
CORRESPONDENCE 
AN APPEAL. 
To the Editor of Land akd Water. 
Dear Sir, — After the outbreak of the war my husband 
•nd I, wishing to do " our little bit," subscribed over £100 
towards the war relief funds and gave hospitality to several 
Belgian refugees. 
But when Lord Kitchener's appeals kept coming for 
wore men and still more nen, my husband decided that he 
ought to offer himself, so he tlirev.' up his business and also 
resigned a working directorship brisiging him in £300 a year 
and joined as a private in the O.T.C. 
He has just now got his commission and finds himself 
Btraitened in means for the purchase of needed extras. 
So I write to ask you if you would be so good as to 
insert this letter in your paper in case anj- of your readers 
feel disposed to lend to my husband for the period of the war 
•ny of the following : 
A pair of binoculars. 
A revolver. 
A sword. 
A prismatic compass. 
Credentials would be sent to any persons good enough to 
•ffer Buch welcome help. — Believe me, yours faithfully. 
Officer's Wife, K.A. 
N.B. — Replies to this letter should be addressed to the 
Editor, Land and Water. 
AMBULANCE. 
To the Editor of Land and Watkr. 
Dear Sir, — Since the middle of December I have been 
In France and Belgium attached to an Ambulance Corp?, 
but owing to various reasons^ we have never been able to do 
the work we expected to. I and two others have now left 
the Corps and are very anxious to get to work. I should be 
glad if you could kindly put us in touch with ariv body which 
would be glad of our sei-vices. I have a beautiful ambulance 
to accommodate four stretchers or ten sitting-up cases, and 
drive and care for the car myself, and hold First Aid certi- 
ficates. Mrs. Campbell cooks, drives, nurses, and does First 
Aid. Mrs. Ore-Paterson is a trained nurse. Our services 
ai-e given voluntarily. We are willing to go to France, 
Belgiu)ii, Serbia, the Dardanelles, anywhere at all where 
there is jjlenty of hard work. Our reason for leaving the 
Corps was that we realised the impossibility of a private unit 
ever being allowed to work. 
If you could give mo the names of any units needing help 
to whom we could apply, I should be most grateful. — Yours 
truly, 
(Miss) O. Kelso King. 
Sweethaws Grange, Crowborough, Sussex. 
KHAKL 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sir, — It may interest your correspondent B. W. Stainton 
and others of your readers to know that khaki was used for 
military uniforms in India in 1857. Dunlop's Khaki Risala, 
of which my father was a member, was a Volunteer Force 
of cavalry raised at Meerut during the Mutiny, and did very 
good work in that district. I believe their uniforms were 
dyed with a reddish-brown earth called " Multani Mutti." 
The only really fa.st khaki dye I know which will stand re- 
peated washing without losing its colour, and I have tried 
many, is that invented by the firm of Lehmann and Gatty. 
Khaki, of course, is the Hindustani for dust. — Yours 
faithfully, 
Indious. 
Pokesdown. 
MOTOR AMBULANCES NEEDED. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Dear Sib, — This will be " world without end " so long 
as it is left to private owners of cars to give them free, gratis, 
and for nothing. Our soldiers are wounded in the service 
of their country, and for this service funds are provided by 
their country. Why should it stop short there and say: 
" Now we have done with you, find some good Samaritan to 
come and help you and set you on his own beast ' ' ? Surely 
it is up to that same country to supply the beast. If it will 
do this there will be an ample supply of Samaritans. 
Because people liave been able to buy a car — often at 
considerable sacrifice — why are they to be expected to give 
it up any more than those who have horses, and vans, and 
lorries, for nothing ? 
There is an enormous amount of cars bo owned in the 
country which would at onco be at the disposal of the Red 
Cross or any other hospitals if the owners were guaranteed 
that their cars would be replaced at the end of the war or if 
a fair sum would be given for tlicn at the start; and, more 
than this, the owners would in many cases be willing to give 
their .services free if it were demanded for the conveyance of 
the wounded from field to hospital. If it was clearly under- 
stood that no car would be accepted unless it were strong 
and serviceable as to chassis, sound in every way as to engine, 
and drivers must be thoroughly competent for the work, and 
the owners would be at no loss, there would be an ample 
supply of cars and drivers for all requirements, and the 
pitiful tale of the wounded left for hours and days untended 
would cease. Many cars would be useful as they are. In the 
case of ambulance bodies being required, these ought to be 
supplied, and not left to the owner to rig up a body v.'hich 
" ought to do." 
For this purpose cars should be really good, well hung, 
and well sprung; thereby much suffering will be saved to 
the wounded, for whom they are intended. Now that the 
large stock of second-hand or, to speak more truly, tenth- 
hand cars has been exhausted and left in the Belgian or 
French ditch, the good and sound car will come into use. 
I know, because I have seen that the depots for these have 
been practically cleared out; and at one of the largest in 
the country I was told by the manager that the ambulance 
had been a godsend to theni, as it took all the old chassis 
which they had had in stock for years, and had given up all 
hope of selling. This is not the kind of ambulance to offer 
to a wounded man, nor can it be sound business to use a 
worn-out article which must be left by the roadside in a 
few days. 
This is a War Office job and should be taken in hand 
at once. — Yours faithfully, 
Herbert Okeden. 
THE SMALL FIRM. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sir, — In a recent issue " One of the Principals of a 
Small Firm " laments that orders for war mat-erial all go to 
tlie big manufacturers. 
Your correspondent is evidently not a manufacturer of 
textiles, or he might have a different tale to tell. 
The experience of those in the textile trades is that as 
often as not manufacturers, both large and small, are passed 
by altogether, and the contracts are given to middlemen, who 
may know nothing whatever about the goods they handle. 
Over rnd over .again has it happened in Lancashire and York- 
shire that a manufacturer sends in his tender, and after some 
weeks' waiting receives the official intimation that his offer is 
declined, and then a few days later sells the identical goods 
to a middleman (the successful tenderer) at a higher price 
than he quoted direct. 
The soldiers' clothes and equipment bear, accordingly, 
two profits, though there is evidently no valid reason why 
they should bear more than one. As to how this comes about, 
there may be various opinions. Among disinterested 
observers there can be but one opinion as to whether the 
public good is served thereby. 
Yours faithfully, 
" One of the Principals of a Large Firm." 
•50, Piccadilly, Manchester. 
CANADIAN RED CROSS. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Dear Sir, — May we ask, as a great favour, that the 
accompanying notice be inserted in Land and Water : 
The Information Department of the Canadian Red Cross 
Society, 14, Cockspur Street, gratefully acknowledges the 
many generous offers which have been made to it on behalf of 
the sick and wounded of the Canadian contingents. 
Offers of private hospitality, of drives for convalescents, of 
singing in the hospitals have all been noted, and will be made 
use of as occasion arises. 
For the present the number of voluntary visitors to the 
hospitals in London is sufficient. 
Thanking you for your kind consideration, sincerely 
yours, 
(Lady) Julia Dru-mmond. 
Canadian Red Cross Society, Cockspur Street, S.W., 
15* 
