2 JANUARY 1915, Page 23

THE DANGER OF SOLDIER'S CAP.

[To THE EDITOR 01 TRY "SPECTATOZ."] Sin,—In your issue of December 26th, 1914, a correspondent calls attention to the shape of our Army cap, and condemns it as unnecessarily conspicuous. The cap has often been con- demned before, and most British officers would fully agree with the criticisms of your correspondent. To ask the authorities first to devise and next to issue a new pattern cap in the course of this campaign, however long, would perhaps be asking too much, but it is not impossible to mitigate the evils of which your correspondent complains— namely, "flatness" and the sharply defined circle resembling no natural form on earth. Quite early in the war a German prisoner said in my hearing that he had found our perfectly rounded caps made splendid aiming marks. On the strength of his remarks I caused the wire rings to be removed from the interior of the caps of all men serving under my command. Without these rings the caps in time collapse, assume leas regular shapes, and lose their " flatness " both of surface and of colour—for irregularity of surface means variety of light and shade. No inconvenience has resulted from the removal of the wire rings, and I am convinced that my men when in action are less conspicuous than they were before.—I am, Sir,