HUTS V. TENTS.
LT. Tan Eerron or Tux "Serc-rsron."1
Siu,—Your remarks on colds contracted by the use of huts interested me. Twenty-five pare ago, under the then Commander-in-Chief, Lord Woleeley, I invented the idea of London youngsters being hardened in camps in summer. I wanted to teach them also to shoot, but was not allowed. The movement took, and today there are camps all over the land. Now, my experience was that tents are infinitely superior to huts, only for winter time you must use double canvas with an air space between. leaked one of the principal firms of tent- makers, and they told me that their men who lived In double or lined tents nine months out of twelve were the healthiest men they had. The reason against huts is that they gather damp and retain microbes of disease—there is no remedy, although frequent lime-washing may reduce it. Tents being open to the air and porous, the microbes get killed. I undertake to say a tent with a little English-made paraffin stove (and made of lined or double canvas) is the most comfortable and healthy thing for soldiers or civilians— and twenty-five years' experience oonfirms this. Why huts were used at all astonishes me, for large double marquees are infinitely superior, much healthier, and can be removed easier, and have many advantages. There is another point, Probably the huts are not pitched in what we call good camping ground, and their bases are generally wet ; but men of experience should be consulted on these matters.—I am, Sir, Jtc., ADLER PIIILLIPS, Vicar (Founder of the Loudon Seaside Cranpe), St. Etheldreda's Vicarage, Fulham, S.W.
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