ARMY REFORM.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sntr—" Inquirer" in your issue of January 5th "cannot help wondering how they [i.e., War Office officials] fill up their tune." Listen! Some years ago the late General F—, then a regimental officer, was sent with a detachment to a country town in Ireland. In the stables he found neither gas nor lamps, so he got half a dozen pounds of tallow candles to enable his troopers to see to clean their horses. The expense was promptly disallowed by the War Office. He was a man of means, so it did not matter to him, but for years for fun, whenever he had nothing else to do, he poked up the War Office afresh, till the total of the stationery must have been far above that of the candles. Again, later, an officer sent on duty, having done everything as cheaply and conscientiously as he could, charged "Porter, 6d." in his expenses. Claim rejected. What business had he to charge his refreshments to the nation ? He humbly explained he had had a porter instead of a cab, to save the nation's money. So he had his Gd. refunded, but was told it ought to have been set down as porterage. The same officer is shortly sent again on the same sort of job. This time he throws economy to the winds, has a cab, and mindful how he was before rebuked, now puts
Previous page
