.382
MILITARY MATTERS,
(Daily Press 27th November). On the 23rd instant we reproduced froin the Daily Chronicle an article that drew attention publicly to the conditions of life of the soldier, conditions for which the non-military man is quite at a loss to see the necessity, more especially as on paper estimates for the upkeep of the British army present so formidable a figure. Of course our contemporary refers only to the extraordinary management of the War Office which apparently attempts to save the public purse at the expense of the Private's pocket by filching from TOMMY's victuals, housing him and giving him the accommodation which cattle would shy at; and generally treating him in a manner that excites the gravest indignation in the minds of the tax payers who have fondly imagined that the English soldier is individually an expensive, if necessary, public servant. It has been pointed out before in different branches of the Press, both civilian and military, that the in- efficient administration of the money voted for military services requires not only criticism but serious public enquiry. It might be imagined that those administrators at the War Office who pretend to believe that. a soldier's socks and underclothing will last seven years without replenishment at home or abroad; that boots will stand hard marching without repair for two years; that service coal, though of the cheapest, will burn twice as long as that used by civilians; that a soldier if supplied with lb. of meat and bone will cheerfully masticate and digest the bone as well as the meat; that threepence a day is sufficient to supply vegetables, salt, pepper, mustard, butter, tea, sugar and milk or any extras to eke out the rations of bread and meat; that it is unnecessary to provide plates, cups, saucers or dishes for men, civilised men, to eat and drink out of; that blankets, though warm and useful to sleep under, are equally suitable for carrying boiled potatoes or roast ineat in, cau make efficient floorcarpets, and are to be used as mats to wipe the soldier's boots on; that it is fair to promise a man one thing before enlistment and to feel a pride in cheating him from the moment he enlists;-I repeat, it might be imagined that such administrators were merely parsimonious, saving and consequently valuable public servants. That this is not the case is evident from the fact that what the public supply in the way of Army funds is expended somehow and somewhere, the how and where remaining more or less of a mystery to the nation as a whole. It is just possible that the process of disposing of Government Stores and auditing of South African accounts may be a matter of frequent occurrence.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND.
#
[December 2, 1905.
Mixed Court" being unable to agree. ยท It is obvious to any one who peruses these Regulations that they will need considerable revision before they are incorporated in the promised Code.
THE FAILURE OF THE LUHAN RAILWAY BRIDGE.
and mess subscriptions, while he has to Note of refusal to recognise the Regulations provide servant, livery, weapons, uniform on the ground that the provisions contained books for instruction and every actual therein for the hearing of suits relating to necessary of life from his private purse. the infringement of trade marks directly When questions are from time to time asked conflict with the existing magisterial powers in Parliament as to the scaudalous treatment of the Consuls. As these Regulations were of officers, if answered at all, instances of published nearly two years ago, it seems to very senior ranks are produced which give have taken the Legations a long time to for the Public an idea that, taken al-discover this very patent defect in them. The together, the officer is a very expensive Regulations provide for a joint investiga.. fellow. The same principle of argument has tion and trial "by a. Consul and Chinese often been applied to the salaries of the Magistrate when a foreign and a Chinese clergy in the Church of England, Bishops subject are parties to the suit, and apart being held up as examples of the waste of from the fact that this conflicts with the ecclesiastical funds. As has been published magisterial powers of the Consuls, the lately by the BISHOP OF LONDON, even Regulations contain no provision for decid these princely salaries are not sufficient to ing the dispute in the very likely event of the cope with the expenses and responsibilities of the position. To those intimately acquainted with what is expected from the higher officers of the Army the same idea occurs at once. Taking the Army from the highest commissioned ranks to the lowest private, the treatment, management and administra. tion is a scandal to a civilised country; the results, considering the enormous amount of money expended upon it, are disappointing and inadequate, and the conclusion must be come to, in the light of recent disclosures us to the life in the Army itself, that the sooner independent inquiry is made into the conduct of those responsible for so disgrace- ful a state of affairs the better, more especially into the financial administration which apparently has to, notwithstanding the enormous funds supplied, stoop to a system of deceit and pilfering from the soldiers themselves to make the public money go round. Whatever the War Office may think and whatever its methods of expressing its beliefs by its treatment of the Army, the public will never be led to tolerate, now tue facts are gradually leaking out, the treating of those so frequently described as Gentlemen in Khaki' as pigs in their life off parade; neither will it fail eventually to find out how money especially granted for the establishment of a good and efficient Army fritters apparent result.
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away
with
THE TRADE MARKS REGU.... LATIONS.
(Daily Press, 27th November).
no
A little more than twelve months ago, the Chinese Government, in fulfilment of one of the obligations of the MACKAY Treaty, brought into operation some Ex- perimental Regulations for the Registration of Trade Marks in China, announcing at the same time that the Regulations would be subject to revision when the promised Code governing the registration of Trade Marks is compiled. Presumably the Chi. nese Board of Commerce and the foreign The method of living and housing the firms who have had their trade marks officers of the army appears to us to be registered under these Regulations are now almost as singular as that adopted in the in a position to state whether they afford case of the men. The Officer must, when that protection to British trade marks we consider the pay of the junior ranks, at against "infringement, imitation or colour all events, be drawn from the monied classes able imitation " by Chinese subjects which accustomed to a good house and accom- he Government of China by the terms modation for living. Where accommoda- of the MACKAY Treaty expressly under
We to afford. tion is provided for a gentleman joining
aware the commissioned ranks we find one that any public statement has yet been small room provided, probably at the top made on the subject, but we have noted of a flight of stone stairs, not in any reports in the Northern Chinese papers that way comparable with a workhouse. This some of the Ambassadors at Peking have room nowadays is thoughtfully provided by from time to time lodged objections to the the War Office with a collection of furniture, | Regulations, which it may be remarked for which an officer has to pay, and which the said officer would scarcely have the effrontery at home to supply for use by his servante. The so-called pay of the officer is not even sufficient to keep him in food
took
ard not
appear to be very loosely drawn up and likely to lead to endless disputes. Now it is reported that the Ministers, with the exception of the representatives of Russia and Japan, intend to present an Identical
(Daily Press 28th November). It is now, of course, an open secret that a serious failure has occurred in the great bridge which carries the Luhan Railway to Kaifung. The story of the line is not au altogether pleasant one; nominally a Belgian undertaking, it was from the beginning perfectly understood to be a tion was to facilitate communication from Russian political scheme; and its real inten- the north with central China, so that when the time came for absorption Russia should find no obstacle in the way of her successful advance to Peking and the rich Yangtee valley. It is true that as time went on, and the great aim of Russia seemed continually further and further from any hope of accomplishment, the construction of the line assumed a More thoroughly commercial aspect, and lately this last has been the guiding principle throughout; the first idea of a military and strategic line has, how- ever, left its traces in the laying out and building of the line, and the first require- ment has been not so much efficiency as economy. Notoriously the Yellow River
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a byeword for instability; from its wandering and unsettled character it bad long ages ago acquired the appellation of 'China's Sorrow," and unstable as is the whole of its lower course (that portion where, after passing the city of. Mangtsin, it enters on the plain of Honan), it has ever borne the worst character of all. Even before the days of authentic history the antieut Yu Kung describes this country as a district of swamps and marshes. The surface soil is the finest of sand, so fine as to be almost impalpable- the wear and tear of the loess deposits of Shensi and Kansuh,
any
or
and the subsoil is almost equally trea. cherous-so that the task of placing a bridge over the wayward river at portion of its lower course was one which might have appalled the most experienced of engineers. Exigencies, both political and commercial, called for its construction at this spot, so that the task before the engineer was to carry one of the longest and mest important bridges in Asia over a Serbonian Bog, without any known discoverable bottom. Unfortunately the method selected was only suitable for a light railway, while already the require. ments of the traffic point out that an extremely beavy and bulky goods traffic has to be provided for not only, in fact have mistakes been made as to the charac ter of the available foundations, but the requirements of the traffic to be carried on The method has been entirely misjudged.