The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-16
Poor Clothes And
 Boots For British
 Again Cause Row
Lessons of Boer War Appear to Have Been Entirely
 Forgotten.
WASTE OF FOOD IN
 CAMPS OF ENGLISH
Parliamentary Discussion of Lumber Purchases Proves
 Very Interesting.

G4 M 444 VOA SASO@@%x9s
 London, April 1S.-The Boer war cost the British nation about 1,250 mill ion dollars. According to the late Gen Sir William Butler the president of the 1901 War office committee Of in ttl1iIy, at least 5e0 million dollars or this sum was flung to the winds III bad contracts and other forms or waste.
 Twenty years earlierN Sir William had gone through the Zulu war. where he had seen the saSne blunders com rlitted on a smaller scale. It was only natural. says the London correspond ff the New york Evening Post, that he should be mortified at finding that the lessons of 1879 had been for gotten in 1899. Today to4e hears a. great deal of the value to those in the lighting line of the tactacai ex 4eroences of south Africa Especially as re- cards the art of taking cover, it Is from the Boers that the British Tom nyss and his officers have learned much that they are now pract1c1nE: But with respect to the protection or the state from graft in the nkatter of siIppIies. it is the same story oE waste and confusion over again. Even the presence of s11cnS a born organizer as Lord Kitchener at the head Of the war office has not saved the govern ment from be&ng victinlized by tho
  war Se sSs 1t has been urged in defense of the department that the need Of n1rae- s1iate supplies has been so urgent as to make 1t impossible to exercise any adequats discrimination in the choice of contractors or any effective inspee- :tiou of their goods. Perhaps this ex- plains why some clothing contractors who were struck off the of1ciaI list af- ter the Boer war scandals have lately been refnstated.
 shoddy Clothing for Territorials.
 In october one Of the most rsputa.- b1e London papers was permitted by the Press Bureau to publish q state-3 znent thatA thousanda of terri toria1s were being clothed in shoddy kt aI<I ce the worst descrtetzen at $saodfd nos last three weeks in active service be- kha1d used for greatcoats was g. shod- dy mixture which, if 1t ones got wet. would never dry.
 The suggestion has been made that this rubbish was used only for men In training in England and was not suplied to those actually at the front. Even so, and suppostng that no better material was available, it might have seemed better that recruits exposed to severe weather in the home camps shoind be saved the risk of pneumonia, though 1t might have been necessary for them to drtn in their usual civilian garb. And even this alleged distin6- fion between the clothing for training and for active service does not really hold.
 Sir Joseph walton stated in the House of Commons in NoveInber that he had recently met 30 wounded reg iu1ars, nearly half of whom said that the khaki with which they had been clothed was rotten stuff. anu that af- ter 9 few days in the trenches their trousers were practically rags and tat ters. What makes this scandal worse, 1t has been stated by responsible health offfciais-the medical officer for Bethna1 Green for instance-tfla al war began has been made by sweaters
 Inferior Boots Supplied.
 It has been. much the same with boots. In the same speech Sir Joseph Walton spoke of meeting a number of men in camp on Sails bury Plain who told him that the soles had parted from. the uppers oi new boots within week The Shoe and Leather Record examined a sample pair submitted by a sol dier who had enlisted in the new army. It's report was that 'fthe per son who supplied them knowing thal they were intended for soldiers weal deserves to be severely punished , After being worn for a few we days it continued, f.the whole Of tht bottom would become saturated witt moisture, rendering the unfortunate wear liable to pneumonia or rheu InatisTn.. .'
 According to general testimony ths standard army boot is an exceIlen artfcle-waterpro comfortable or the march, and thoroughly durable But it is equally beyond doubt tha in the early days of the war hundred of recruits were supplied with boot which. after twenty -four hours in tn. rain, were no better than sponges, e1 whose heels dropped off after a fev days wear.
 One of the first emergencies of tn, war. was the need of providing hut for the housing of the new armies Many columns have appeared in tn, daily press exposing the way il which the government has been ex plotted in this matter. First of all attention was called to the contract for the corrugated iron sheets uset in the construction of these huts Complaint was made that the gov ernment was getting these sheet through a combine, and neg1ectin; opportunity of securing some of them at least, through outside firms at con siderably lower prices.
 Timber-Buyin Contracts
 It is mainly in connection witt the great tirnber-buying eontroversy which has been the subject of bite debates in the house of commons Acting on behalf of the war office. tn office of works appointed a certai1 Montague Meyer as it's agent to bu- whatever timber might be required For this service he Was to receive commission of 1-2 per cent It i not alleged that MT. Meyer has un Ioadeds inferior material on the gov