WAR AND WASTE.
[To ass EDITOR OP Ten “SPECT■701."] Sin,—In your editorial remarks at the end of a letter in the Spectator of February 13th on the above subject you say: " We trust that the women of England will force all men under their control . . . to be less wasteful." I should like to say he a Colonere wife I was no lees horrified than your corre- spondent, "An English Housewife," at the appalling waste of almost whole loaves of bread, and asked my husband to try to prevent it. (The quartermaster is allowed to sell the "refuse," the profits of which are spent in extras for the men.) The Army Service Corps issue the rations in accordance with the orders of the Army Council, therefore regiments have no option of refusing the allowance of bread. It is true that other materials can be taken in lieu of a proportion of the bread ration, but it is impracticable for the amateur cooks to utilize the bread, Hour, rice, &c., in puddings, as their cooking powers are so limited. In a "regular" regiment, where the cooks, I understand (in peace time), are sent in turn to the School of Cookery at Aldershot, the standard of cooking is high enough to ensure the proper use of materials. In the present Reserve or -New Army battalions such trades are to be found among the Bo-called cooks as bricklayer, miner, hawker, etc. I hope you will see from the above that we have little power to change the existing system of waste.—I am,
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