The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-05 00:00:00

supplies to the particular service on which troops are
engaged, or for the exercise of the foresight :.eqt.Mied to
insure suci; adaptation. that
may rest with the Secretary of State for War, but prac-
tically, it is impossible that be should attend to every
such detail.
" So long as the'men had to pay for their boots and
shoes there was a disinclination to purchase them from
the public store, on account of their alleged inferiority
in quality. Like all articles obtained by contract from
the lowest bidder, the workmanship was bad, and totally
unfit for endurance in the tenacious soil of the trenches,
or for travelling along the muddy roads, in which the
men were often half.leg deep. It is stated that, even
when suffitieutly largo, they were altogether unsuited to
resist the wet, and that the soles frequently came off in
a few days. It was not until the arrival of booty corn-
ing. up to the knee, and of superior materials and work-
manship, that the condition of the soldier appeals to have
been materially improved in this respect, that he was
able to do his duty without the discomfort arising from
belt g ill shod in such a soil.
" Similar comp'aints wsre male by the commanding
officers regarding- the quality and workmanship of the
clothing. It is described as extremely spongy in its tex-
ture, badly put together, and quite unfit to stand the
t?ar and wear of the rough work of the trenches. Some
of the officers who had exsmined the clothing of the
French soldiers stated that it was greatly superior in
texture to that which was snoplied to the British troops.
" The experience gained in the Crimea appears -to es-
tablish the expediency of improving the quality and
workmanship of every part of the soldier's clothing, but
it would be in vain to look for improvement so long as it
is procured from the man who offers it the cheapest, in-
stead of from him who manZactures it of the best qua-
lity:

" The arrangements relating to the issues of the sup-
plies from the Quartermaster-General's stores appear to
have been of questionable expediency. The officers com-
manding regiments, brigades, or divisions were not made
aware what articles were available fur the use of the
men, and were informed that they need not send in re-
quisions for what they wanted, because, whenever
there were supplies fur distribution, approved requisi-
tions would be sent to them for the proportions appro-
priated to their respective commands. The- special
wants of each corps were not., therefore, brought to the
notice of the head of the department, as they would
have been if requisitions bad been sect in for what was
required ; and it appears that rugs, paillasses, blankets,
greatcoats, and uniforms, remained undisturbed, for
which requidCons w. undoubtedly have been made
if the c.inimanding officers had known that they were in
store. On these grounds Col. Gordon acquits command-
ing officers of all responsibility in this respect.
" We would venture to suggest that the commanding
officers of. brigades, or divisions, should be informel, at
least once a month, of the contents of the Qaartermas-
ter-General's store, and that they should be held respons-
ible fur the transmission to head-quarters of requisitions
for whatever articles they consider essential to the wel-
fare of their men,
.whether these articles may be in store
or not. Commanding officers would then know how far
the stores were capable of supplyin'e the wants of their
men, and the Quartermaster-General would know what
those wants were which his stores were unable to sup-
PIY! _ •