Evening star., 1901-05-31
THE BRITISH OFFICER.
Meager Pay and Education Does Not
Fit Him to Meet Beers.
From the London Telegraph.

From the London Telegraph.
Five shillings and three pence is the daily
pay Of British officer of the infantry
when he first joins. When he rises to the
rank Of lieutenant he draws 6s. Cd. Gov
ernment gives him lodging with a table
and two chairs in it. meager allowance
of coal and candles or gas: and, having
done this expects him, on his pay, to
clothe and feed himself and supply him
self with furniture.
There are certain expenses which young
officer is, by regulation, bound to incur.
He must join the regimental mess, end is
charged for his dinner, whether he eats 1t
or not, except during periods of leave. He
contributes months pay to the mess fund
on joining, and eight days pay annually.
His daily messing, If he practices strict
economy, comes to S. Cd. or As day. The
mess fund pays for the up-keep of the mess
furniture and carpets and the linen, crock
cry, kitchen utensils and plate, which are
the property Of the officers.
The contract made between a civilian
mess-man and the president specifies
generally an elaborate daily dinner with
two entrees, game, when In season. and
dessert as courses in it; certain special lux
uries, such as turkey and ham, being added
on guest nights. A small sum, called orlgi-
nally THE regents allowance and insti-
tuted to give every officer glass of wine
in which to drink the loyal toaStS, after
dinner is now called the messing allow
ance." and goes partly to the mess fund,
partly toward lessening the cost of daily
messing.
=. A wooden table, two wooden Windsor
chairs, a crate, fireirons and coal scuttle
are the furnishings of an officers room,
when he takes 1t over, and all other ar
ticles of furniture he carries from place to
place, partly at government expense, partly
at his own, or hires from a local tradesman.
He has besides to have light camp equip
| age. A barrack room outfit costs between
| ESQ and f40, and his camp equipage will
necessitate the expenditure of f10 note.
The purchase and up-keep of uniform is.
| of course, unavoidable; but the constant
| changes of pattern and material are a cause
| not only Of expense, but Of irritation, and
the old service joke that the war office and
| the military tailors are in league is often
| half believed to be a truth.
Payment of a soldier-Servant at los. a
| month and clothing him in livery; a wash
| ing bill of los. payment averaging fl a
| month for the entertainment of regimental
guests, are other unavoidable expenses a
| subaltern must incur, and subscription to
| the regimental rifle club, though not Off
/. cially insisted on, is practically given ''by
| order"
| By the time these expenses have been
met the 5s. 3D.. or 6s. Cd. have vanished.
| The education of the British officer is car
| ried on in schools or garrison classes At
| Sandhurst, Woolwich and the Staff College
there are professors for all the military
subjects; and at Hythe, Chatham, Wool
| wich and elsewhere are special schools for
special branches of knowledge. Sandhurst
| and Woolwich are supposed to send the
| young officer to his regiment with good
| grounding in all military knowledge. A
| young man with the ordinary attainments
| of fifth-form boy on the modern side Of
| one of the big public schools should be
| able to pass into Sandhurst.
| When he passes out from the Royal Mil
| itary College he has helped to dig shelter
| trenches and make spar bridges, and has
| learned which end of a 15-pounder gun is
| loaded: he can draw a fair military sketch
| of easy country, and can read a contoured
map; he has had the elements of tactics
| military administration and military law
| instilled into him: he marches and should
ers arms smartly. and has kept up what
ever knowledge of French or German he
had when he entered the college.
With his regiment he sees thoroughly
| the interior economy of a company, lee
| lures his men on all subjects, and is just
| as bored as they are before the weekly
| half-hour is over; teaches them how to dig
| out the earth of a shelter trench, which
another company has just filled in; makes
| maps Of roads to show the direction of the
| weekly route march; gets the "explana-
| tions' OF all the drills by heart, and when
| he goes up for his examination to pass for
| a captaincy II a good drill. and knows al