CARE OF THE WOUNDED.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 240, 7 October 1916, Page 13

CARE OF THE WOUNDED.

THE. BRITISH SYSTEM PRAISED,

Adolphe Brisson, formerly % French Minister, has just returned from a visit to the English -front. He gives a very vivid and interesting, description of how a great army- is administered in the field (cays a Paris dispatch). j • Of especial importance is the manner in which the British soldier is cared for.

"Wβ meet generals who are not only waTriors," eaid M. Brisson, "but who are great administrators, trained in India. Egypt, Africa,- accustomed to plan the details of a campaign. They spare neitheir expense nor trouble in'establishing ,the base of a lengthy military action. "I admired their calm confidence in the sovereign power of Great Britain. Always they made the same statement: 'Wβ English need time to understand. We did not know war like this. It had to be learned. We are slow in starting, ■but we are there now, and nothing can stop us.'

"The greatest commendation is due to the sanitary service. On principle the. English soldiers do not want barracks. The fighter must live and be cared for under a. tent. He breathes better; cleanliness is easier to keep; vermin are easier to destroy; every morning everything is burned. In camp, be it for the healthy or the wounded, flowers cheer the eye; the English soldier delights in them. "On their arrival the men receive .thorough and vigorous disinfection.' They are bathed and scrubbed; clothing boiled and washed; then the soldier in dressed neatly in a white shirt with a soft collar, Ted tie, blue vest, with white revers and olive trousers. He then is taken -to a paradise,, a garden in which are scattered the sleeping tents, dining tente; for his recreation he finds tennis courts amid flowers,, and. benches'to rest upon. For his comfort .even a dentist; yes, , even a chiropodist! .And the menu! the attentions, the cheer!

" HVe mean,' said a general to mc, on seeing my amazement, 'that on returning to the trenches our soldier may be able to say to his comrades? If you are ill or wounded, you'll be mighty well off in the hospital.'

"Be it noted here, too, that nurses and soldiers in the service x of ambulances and -hospitals are in comfortable quarters, well fed and-.paid. They work, they must be cared for,' is the slogan. "It is a fact that the. Englishman does his best when he is - well looked after. Give him his roast beef and he ■win fight well."