MILITARY BOOTS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2309, 17 November 1914, Page 8

MILITARY BOOTS

COMPLAINTS AND AN ANSWER. Since the outbreak of war there has been much talk,, about the boots cur troops are being supplied with, and some complaints. ■ . ■.."'• Thatthe New Zealand military boot is all that it.is claimed,is borne out by the report of Colonel-Surgeon James R. Purdy, who was called on to examine the boot thoroughly, and report as late as last month. The report is as follows-: \- 7 . • ; ..•■':■,'' "The Commandant,—The sealed pattern i boot designed by a board of officers' in 1911 I claim' 1 to be,, the best Army boot at present known. The boot was designed to do away with the admitted defects in the British Army ■ boot. ..Itembodies all the principles laid down by leading military authorities as to the best boot for universal troop wear. The ■upper was made soft purposely. It was considered a stiff .upper was a serious drawback in a soldier, s boot. Since.tho New Zealand boot was designed practically all military authorities have adopted the soft upper;- Chrome leather, if well greased, will keep out water. The shape was made anatomically correct, and here' again the.boots issued by Home authorities are being made on the same principle. The. booo was made lighter by about half a pound than any other service.boot known. -There were obviotiß reasons for'this. Most of the complaints I about the boots are due to two causes: —(1) The fact that some manufacturers departed'from the specifications. (2) The men themselves do not fit their feet properly,,nearly always insisting upon wearing boots too short. A marching boot should be almost an inch longer than a man's foot. The boot was shown to the military authorities at:the Inter-Colonial Medica] Congress in Sydney, 1911, and was admitted to be the most perfect thev had seen.—(Sgd.) James R. Purdy, Colonel, Director of Medical Services."

In order to prove the soundness of the boots that are being served out to our troops, Major J. O'Sullivan, Director of Stores, invited a representative .of The Dominion into the Stores Department, asked him to select any pair of boots he liked from among many hundreds of pairs in stock, and then had the particular pair solected cut ' and" sawn in half lengthways. This was done in order to prove beyond any reasonable doubt of what quality the boots are. Two of the halves wore brought away by our representative, and may : be inspected _at our business office by anyone sufficiently interested.