SOLDIERS' PAY.

Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 58, 5 September 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

SOLDIERS' PAY.

We are accustomed, to sympathise with the British soldier on the scantiness of his pay and the microscopical proportions -which his pocket-money assumes after various stoppages have been deducted. "Tommy Atkins" is, however, far better off than his compeers across the Channel. The French pehin is paid at the rate of a sou a day, and, in spite of tlie cheapness of the Government tobacco from which he fills his pipe or rolls his cigaretto, and which forms his chief or only luxury, he does not always receive the threepence halfpenny per week in hard cash. Stoppages are known in other armies than our own, only under another name. But contrasted with the British and French soldier, the condition of the Russian private is infinitely worse. He is supposed to get a farthing a day, which is increased by one-half in time of war or annual manoeuvres. When the corruption of official circles in Eussia is remembered, it is not surprising to learn that the soldier rarely receives any money beyond the rouble given to each man after the inspection ©f his regiment.