The Government, and Recruiting officers also, appear to be greatly
troubled about desertions. Recruiting goes on very well, the establishment is complete, the recruits are fairly good, and if they are young, the effect of the "Queen's salt," i.e., good diet, will tell on them all the more, but the desertions are very numerous. It has been proposed, therefore, either to brand the men, as was formerly the practice, or to increase the penalty for desertion. We distrust both schemes ; the first as deterring respectable
recruits, the second as creating sympathy for the deserter, whom half the population regard as a man on strike. We do not believe it proved that there is any necessity for a term of service at all. Offer .12 a month and found," with a rise for every year of experience up to the age of 30, and let the men go or stay like workmen, and the Government would have the pick of the unskilled labour of the country. The extra cost for 100,000 men would be about half-a-million a year, for which we should have regiments always in order. Of course on service a deserter should be shot without more ado.
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