RECRUITING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 295, 22 October 1864, Page 6

RECRUITING.

(From tlio Times, June 20th.) Sib,—-The "War-office warrant -which has just beea published on the subject of recruiting applies entirely to the re-engagement of soldiers the term of whote service has expired, and without doubt offers many powerful inducements to re-enlist to the tneti entitled to their discharge: A3 # tbih|jQrary iiifcasurej our tiilsseht STstein bt the Bolcliet a pajinent, any better jileaijs eoiil<J have ,to .seeura the re-enlistment, of newly .discharged,men than'thtfea gratuities aijd advantages which ,are;detailed, in new warrant: hut ini order to secure that constant and annual Supply of recruits which is essential la the existence of our army, some means must be adopted which will render the soldier's life and position more desirable to those classes which supply the raw material of the army. As a first step towards this end, it of course is advisable to discover what was the causa which induced the men at present 111 the army to . eft* list: and what ideas of arm}- life they ehtertaiifd before enlistment: For Several years past I have, H careful compilation, of the opinions of men who. have been promoted from th? ranksj of intelligent htm, commissioned ijfcfiqers, and of privates in all branches of the service, endeavoured to obtain some clue towhat reasons induce the ipajority. of,,our soldiers of the best class to enlist, ;and what changes m.ourmiti. tary administration wiU to; augment consider,. ably the annual supply of recruits. It would.lie tedious, and almost impossible, to . give even. thb slightest abridgment of the histories Ihave but it mav bcsatisfactory.to know that the popular delusion is perfectly incorrect which; supposes t)iat pur recruiting sergeants o>wp the greater part of ,%jr success tn enlisifrg to .the desire ot" the recruits to escape frotii positions which are too hot to hold thea. I do not mako this statement on the unsupported testimony of my informants, for whenever I could do so I have verified their statements by reierence to the places of their enlistment. I have found that the principal causes which had men to enlist can be enumerated and arranged according to thtir relative power in the following order Desire of change, desire.of dress; lore, otherwise, military ambition, reoklessnessiidifficultieg. I have hardly fouriil a single case of a soldier enlisting with the "idea of entering oh the profession as a livelihood, in the same way us a man of the same class becomcs an apprentice to a carpenter or bricklayer. None of thise reasons for enlistment make a man at all unfitted for a good soldier; tlie last term, " difficulties," I only intend to mean offences of slight nature, such as robbing an orchard or making free with one of the squire's rabbits, _ The preventives to A man's enlisting who hits'. inclination to.do so ai, ; e—opposition from . friends,, a comfortable jiliice with good wages, or a.wife and family. '-Che last is as great a preventive to our taking a recruit as to his coming to us, but if we are to "et rccruits we must destroy the two former preventives, and, if possible, obtain men who will look on the army as a livelihood. lam convinced that the way to make the soldier respected, to destroy that opposition to enlistment which a young man always meets with from his friends when he broaches the idea of *' going far a soldier," and to stir up military ambition and desire of a soldier's life am6n°; the youth t>f otir peasantry, in patticulir, Sad lolwet classes in general, is to give the soldier his pay entir?,' to supplv hiin .with .iiil , his food and clothing, and never to place iiim under stoppages exbept when hia o\vn carelessness lias caused damage to his clothing or appointments. This would not be so expensive as at first may be imagined, for in a few years we should be able to diminish the bounty on enlistment, and probably abolish it altogether, and thus get rid of the rascals who make a trade of enlisting to receive a bounty and then desert, only to play the same trick in another corps. The soldier with his full pay would have money enough -to .spend ueefjdly pr.tp save, and would, not. fritter- it.away in glasses of ah as he ilow does liia daily pittance, purely because it is so small, and the army would lose the character of au idle and dissolute profession. The greater portion of our accounts and paper business, which is inconvenient in peace and impossible in war, would be abolished. Non-commissioned officers should, of course, be paid proportionately higher. The system of stoppages is the curse of the British army j it reduces the money which the soldier receives as pay to almost nothing : it encourages drinking, causes discontent, sometimes leads to mutiny, and entails a large amount of corrcspondenceand trouble. A great complaint- atnohg the men is that they do not hsvtf sufficient opportunities of seeing their friends and relations. A private soldier quartered in Ireland cannot afford to go for & few days to the east of Eng-' land. Both meii and iion-i ommissioned Mlicfers Gtigfit to have greater facilities for obtaining f&rloughs, and they iliould not he forced into barracks in the evenings at such ridiculously early hours. The dress ought to be made handsomer; the hospital, this library, and reading-room should be made more, amusing and less redolent of s JUartyrs an 3. Jl/air's Sermons; and the in en shoiild be treated more like men in little matters of interior economy,' and less like children. In these lines I have endeavoured to express opinions based, not on my own experience alone, but on that of the best men in the ranks, the bone and sinew, the strength and muscle of our army, who have an experience more valuable on this question than all the theories of the " proper military authorities" can ever be. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Cabbine.