The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-01 00:00:00

a•••••E..V
h p Royal Artillery Driver; Charles Lennox Dick-
son, Unattached; Otto Schaumann, h p 6th Line
Battalion King's German Legion.
Cornet—Joseph Sefton, 12th Dragoons.
Ensign—Frank F. Perceval, Military Train.
Paymaster—A. M'Donald, 6th Foot.
Deputy-Assistant Commissary-General—John
George Eyl, h p.
Surgeon—Edward Booth, '73d Foot.
Assistant-Surgeons—Harry Reid, M.D., 75th
Foot ; J. Gorman, Staff.
Veterinary Surgeon—Joseph Ball, Royal Ar-
ery.

HOW WB DRESS OUR TROOPS IN TEE
TROPICS.

A writer in a contemporary says :—Government
has done wonders of late years in improving the
condition of our army ; it possesses no truer friends
than the Duke of Cambridge and Mr. Sidney Her-
bert. Model kitchens and bakeries, ventilated
rooms, first-class schoolmasters, libraries, games,
out-door and in-door, all testify to the fact; and
when our soldiers fail to reap the advantage of all
these reforms (as is too often the case in far off
stations) the blame rests with supine commanding
officers and indolent engineers. But the dress of
our soldiers in tropical climates cries aloud for
reform. Regiments are sent to Ceylon or Mauritius
for 10 years, or West India for three or four, and
there, under a burning sun, may be seen the British
soldier marching up and down on sentry, or lying
exhausted in his guard room, dressed in the thick
red broadcloth tunic lined with serge, the hard
leather stock, that intolerable shako, precisely the
same as at Aldershott on a cold winter day. If, cool
reader, you seek a new sensation, or wish to realise
the fact, heat up your own room to 85 deg., put on
Private Smith's regimentals, belts, and shako,
wear them for 24 hours, and see how you feel after
it. Bear in mind that such may be Private
Smith's fate every third or fourth day for 10 years,
or till, worn out in health, he dies, or is invalided
home. It is hardly credible, with such a large por-
tion of our troops constantly suffering from, and
enduring patiently, all the necessary discomforts
and evils of tropical climates, that to those should
be wantonly added a dress well adapted perhaps to
our northern region, but a cruelty and torture
when worn within 10 or 15 degrees of the Line. Is
discomfort in dress necessary to discipline ? Com-
mon sense laughs at it, humanity cries out against
it; but if the voice of common sense and humanity
are to be silenced by " regulation," perhaps that of
" economy" may be listened to. Ask any medical
officer of experience if the exhaustion produced by
constant sweating in heavy, close fitting garments
does not debilitate the system, render it more liable
to disease and less able to fight against it when
contracted : is it wise, then, in a mercantile sense
to stew our soldiers and then send them home as
invalids ? Will any one favour me with the argu-
ments for. the present system ? I know of but one,
and that is its beautiful simplicity—like the salt
pork and biscuit in the Crimea—so many thousand
men, so many thousand red-coats, shakos, &c., and
the work is done ; a change would necessitate half-
worn clothing stored, perhaps damaged and re-
issued—" No end of trouble and confusion," as the
alarmed clothing clerk would exclaim ; but is his
small voice to be heard before that of our suffering
soldier ?
I have avoided including India in my list of
tropical stations, as I hear of great reforms in re-
gard to dress carried out by Lord Clyde, " carkee"
recognised, and shakos all swept into the sea with
one stroke of his pen. But, if abolished in India,
why, pray, retained in the West Indies and
elsewhere ?
Having now stated what our dress in the tropics
is, I would ask leave to say what in my opinion it
ought to be ; for the present tunic, trousers, stock,
and greatcoat I would substitute a blouse of a
light, but strews'' material, two pairs of trousers
of the same stuff, a black necktie, and a loose over-
coat to be worn with or without the blouse. The
cut should be loose and liberal, the colour of dark
shade. The whole appearance that of a local and
temporary arrangement, rendered necessary by the
climate, rather than a picturesque or martial and
imposing uniform. The material selected is all-
important •, it must wash well, be strong and dur-
able, not liable, like flannel,*to be cut by belts ;
cool and light, but with enough wool to prevent a
check to perspiration by a sudden fall of 10 degrees
in the thermometer; such stuff, in short, as an ex•
perienced traveller would choose when about to
start on a summer pedestrian tour in the south of
Europe.