25 NOVEMBER 1899, Page 2

The Queen has expressed her intention to give a Christmas

present of a tin of chocolate capable of making sixteen cups of cocoa or being eaten as " sweets "to every soldier now on active service,—the chocolate for immediate consumption and the tin as a keepsake. The present will, of course, be made to all the Colonial Volunteers as well as to the Regulars and Blue- jackets. The thought was most kindly, and the present very sensible in itself, for soldiers, like all people who use their muscles in bodily exercise, are very fond of sweet things. We see it stated that one hundred thousand tins have been ordered. If there are any " over " we trust that they will be given to the Boer wounded and prisoners. We cannot begin too early to show them that we are not vindictive, and that the British have not the least intention of trying to turn the Boers into Outlanders.