The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-04 00:00:00

" SUBSTITUTION OF PORTER FOR RUN.

"Avery general opinion is ex-p-Ws;eahothby- command-
ing officers and surgeons that to continue the extra rations i
of rum which the troops have been receiving would be n-
jurious both to their health and their habits; and there
is a remarkable concurrence of testimony in favour of sub-
stituting porker of good quality for a part of the rations of
rum, or even for the whole, as well as in favour of enabling
the men to buy good porter, by providing a sufficient
quantity to be supplied at a fixed and moderate price,
while the army is in standing camp, under such regula-
tions, as may be considered expedient.
,
It cannot, we fear, be doubted, that many, especially
of the young
soldiers, who had no disposition to indulge in
ardent spirits, or to whom the rum was at first even dill-
tasteful,
have acquired a habit of dram-drinking by the
use of the rations issued to them ; and it is believed that
the substitution of good porter, which is nutritious, anti-
sccrbutio, and, in moderate quantities, on the whole bene-
ficial, would also tend to correet or to prevent the forma-
tion of habits which are injurious both to health and to dis-
cipline.

"SUPPLIES OF FOOD NOW ABUNDANT.
"At a future time we shall be prepared to submit some
suggestions as to the rations of troops in the field; mean-
while we have the honour and satisfaction to report that,
before our departure, the supplies of food to the army in
the Crimea were abundant, and the diet of the soldier, in
the opinion of those who are best able to judge, better
than any array in the field has, in any former campaign,
been regularly supplied with. We are able to state that,
in their entire satisfaction with the rations new issued,
the men concur with their officers. The only objection, so
far as we can ascertain, is to the inferior condition of the
cattle; and the grounds of this objection are in course of
being removed, as the animals are daily improving in con-
dition upon the new grass, which is now abundant in the
grazing countries. Bat as the natives of those countries
are not in the. habit of winter-feeding their cattle, they

* Among tb e reserve supplies at Scutari which were not
brouglet over to the Crimea, at a time when they might have
been of the utmost service to troops labouring under scurvy
and insufficient nourishment, were 147,088 gallons of porter,
which remained in store there from the Ist of December,
1854, till April or May last. It might have been impossible
considering the inadequate means of transport, to carry any
portion of this porter to the head-quarter camp, but there
appears no rimson why it should not have been issued to the
troops in the vicinity of Balaklava, as well as the numerous
parties sent there from the camp on fatigue duties, which
would by degrees have extended the supply throughout the
force in front, without the trouble of carriage. It was one of
the hardest consequences of the fatigue duty to Balaklava
that the mna had often to remain there for the greater part
of the day without food ; a pint of porter and a biscuit would
have obviated this, and been of material benefit to their health;
such a supply would also have been most valuable for the
Sidi: