CORRESPONDENCE.
BARRACK RESTAURANTS.
[TO THB EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—The improvement of the soldier's surroundings without interfering with the requirements of discipline or unduly burdening the Exchequer is one of the questions of the day in Army administration. Complaints are often made, usually with some reason, of the uncomfortable way in which soldiers' meals are served, of the poorness of the utensils, and of the smell of food in the barrack rooms, which serve both as sleep- ing and dining rooms. The food question is one of the most tiresome to all concerned in the soldier's life in barracks. In the first place, there is as much worry and correspondence regarding the number of rations drawn by units each month as in all the pay accounts. Thousands of letters on the subject, relating usually to trivial discrepancies between the number of rations drawn and the number of men present, circulate yearly, and many are the clerks thus employed; while com- manding officers are often called on to refund the value of rations overdrawn in circumstances unavoidable at the time. Officers spend some time daily in examining and passing the food supplied for issue, often with little enough know- ledge of its fitness or otherwise for human consumption. The visits of officers at meal-times pursuant to Regulations, for the purpose of hearing and inquiring into complaints, disturbs the comfort of men at their meals, and is a tiresome duty to the officers performing it. Under the present system, also, many men are of necessity taken away from military duties and training to act as cooks and messmen.
It has been suggested that all this worry and trouble might be removed, and a soldier's life made much more agreeable, if instead of actual rations soldiers were to draw a money equivalent, and if restaurants on the tenant system were established within barracks, at which the soldier could purchase all his meals. With such restaurants he would not be out of pocket should be leave barracks on half-holidays before the dinner-hour, being able to pay for a meal else- where. The mere idea of such an innovation, with the prospect of so much saving in vexatious routine and irritating correspondence, is enchanting to the regimental officer. There can be no doubt that the soldier's meals would be far more interesting under such a system, and his barrack-room, freed from the taint of food, the smell of the bread cupboard, and the unsightliness of dirty platters, would become a more agreeable abode. In considering any such scheme the first item is accommodation, which would have to be considerable where some hundreds of men might be clamouring for breakfast at once. Of late, however, so many but barracks have been built on ground where space is no difficulty, that there should be no obstacle to building a few more "tin" huts as restaurants without prohibitive cost, while even where there are masonry barracks space could often be found for similar buildings. The tenant of a restaurant would, of course, be bound down by his agreement to provide suitable food at a fixed tariff, with penalties in the event of failure to maintain his standard, while suitable provision would have to be made for the sanitary inspection of his tenement, and for the enforcement of sanitary measures. The soldier should be able to obtain at these restaurants a reasonable breakfast, dinner, and tea for his ordinary messing allowance and allowance in lieu of rations combined, and should, as now, find money for any supper he may need from his pay.
It has been urged that if a soldier did not receive rations in kind he could not be trusted to feed himself properly ; but young Englishmen are not in the least inclined to stint and starve themselves when money to buy food is forthcoming from their pockets, and even in the case of men married off the strength it needs to be proved that they will starve them. selves. A year's experiment in a few stations in England would throw light enough on the matter. It might, of course, be proved necessary to deduct the cost of one good meal a day from the soldier's pay, and credit the restaurant with that amount, to ensure him taking one meal, but it is very unlikely that such a course would be required. As a result of the time and labour already indicated as likely to be saved by such a scheme, more time would be available for manoeuvre and in- struction, while with no fixed dinner-hour men could be kept out till the exercises were properly finished, instead of being hurried home lest their meals should spoil. So much time and energy is at present of necessity spent in routine which might preferably be better employed, that any innovation which will lessen routine, without prejudice to administration, should be welcomed, and there is no doubt that the restaurant scheme, if workable in other ways, would most materially add to the comfort and quietness of the soldier's barrack rooms.
At present there are large establishments of the Army Service Corps devoted in peace-time to supplying rations to the Army. A restaurant system, under the control of the Army Service Corps, would save a large number of their men being required in peace-time, and many could be offered transfer to the Reserve. On active service a very large personnel for supply duties is not required, especially of the the butcher and baker class, as troops are fed largely on tinned meat and biscuit, or butcher for themselves. A reduction of the peace strength of this important corps should not there- fore affect efficiency for war, especially as butchers and bakers can be enlisted for the Reserve without their going through the ranks, as some of the Royal Engineer expert workmen are obtained. The question of the rank-and-file of the Army learning to cook is not involved, though it might seem so on the face of it, for all corps have now to teach and practise their men in camp cooking under field-service con- ditions during the year, when each man has to learn to cook
[We have always desired that the plan proposed by our correspondent should be inquired into with a view to its adoption. We believe it would prove eminently practical in all Home stations. If it did, the effect on recruiting would be extraordinarily good, as the Government would be able to offer men £1 a week and "find yourselves," as they do to the county police. This should prove a most attractive offer. Instead of the tenant system, we should like to see some form of co-operation tried. In that case the profits of the regimental restaurant, which would be very large, would return to the men.—ED. Spectator.]
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