ARMY V. DOLE

Evening Star, Issue 22783, 4 May 1931, Page 8

ARMY V. DOLE

RECRUITING CAMPAIGN In January, ’-930, the Queen’s Royal Guildford admitted nine recruits, of whom three were local men. i In January this year 51 recruits, including 19 local men, joined the colours—a striking increase, m part attributable to the recruiting campaign undertaken in January. Fop reasons of economy, the effort took a less spectacular form than elsewhere. It would, for example, have cost £SO in fares alone to get the regimental band up from Dover for parades through the town. Propaganda was accordingly limited to depicting the Trooping of the Colour by the Ist Battalion at Malta, the distribution of leaflets to 457 ex-members of the regiment living in the county (asking them to persuade young men of their acquaintance to join), and a temporary in* crease in the number of recruiting ser* geants. “ Undoubtedly present economic conditions have played their part in the influx of recruits,” Major N. W. H. Pain, the commanding officer, said. “ From personal experience I should say that with roughly 75 per cent, of our recruits the dominant inducement is hunger. The dole is our greatest enemy. Our recruiting sergeants find it is little use arguing with the vouths who have just been given 18s for a week’s idleness.” Messenger boys, odd-job men, gardeners, agricultural labourers, are among the trades mainly represented, but the majority are youths of 17 or 18, who have never been at work. “ In a way it is a drawback for a man to be as old as 22 or 23 even,” said Major Pain, “ for he is then more or less ‘ set ’ physically and mentally, and in consequence far less adaptable. A point that has struck me lately is that youths are made to join the Army by their parents. It is father who becomes aware of the recruiting drive, and acts accordingly, not his son.” THE “AWKWARD SQIJAD ” Major Pain conducted me round the barracks (writes a ‘ Daily Telegraph ’ correspondent). A squad of recruits, secondweek men, in shorts and sweaters, were doing physical jerks. In the school, its walls hung with carefully graduated charts showing individual progress, an elementary mathematics class was in progress. It has been established that the intellectual advance shown by a recruit in the school room coincides with an improvement in other activities, such as shooting. One hour a -day is the minimum for each man, but voluntary evening classes are well attended.

The messing officer —he is allowed XOJd per man per day, and juggles with such fractions as o.3d—-explained something of the science of feeding 155 men. The menus, over a period of some days, are submitted to the medical officer, who decides whether they contain sufficient calories and vitamines. The men meet the messing officer daily to submit suggestions as to changes of diet. Each man must get of hot food for breakfast. The luncheon menu was “ sea pie ” (meat and pastry), potatoes, peas, prunes, and custard. It was handed out in heaped platefulls as savoury in appearance as in odour —from the scrupulously clean kitchen through a hatch to the recruit waiters. A typical breakfast is bacon and eggs, tea, bread, and margarine. Tea consists of tea, margarine, and bread and sardines. But why, 1 asked, did the soup supper appear on only three evenings, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday? Because those ara the days when the men are so “ broke ” that they cannot patronise the canteen, was the answer.

Proof positive of the physical good accomplished in the eighteen weeks that transform recruits into something like soldiers, in the scales. The average in-crease—-determined by the most careful investigation—is 81b a man.