GERMAN WAR CHESTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15900, 24 April 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

GERMAN WAR CHESTS.

PAYMASTERS AT THE FRONT. Thk outfit of a German army paymaster and tho system of fiuance prevailing among the armies at the front are interesting details of the German fighting machine Every array corps has a war chest, which is maintained even in times of peace. In charge are a. paymaster, several book-keepers, and a number of attendants. Three large transports, especially constructed to carry the war chest and its guardians, are even in times of peace constantly kept in working condition. When the mobilisation order is issued the war chests are filled with currency and paper money, which are issued to the paymaster in charge by the Reichsbanki or any of its branches. The amount of a war chest's contents varieß according to the strength of the army corps which it is to supply with money during tho operations, but it usually amounts to several million marks, and consists of copper, silver and gold currency in small denominations, and of paper bills of various denominations.

The headquarters of the army corps aro also the headquarters of the paymaster and the precious war chest. The- demands made upon the war chests are heavy. It •has been an ironclad rule during the present war that everything consumed or requisitioned by the troops should be paid for in cash. The soldiers themselves are being paid at regular intervals. ProI visions are paid for in spot cash. The rolling stock must bo repaired, horses provisioned, and a thousand and one little things come up which necessitate the paying out of cash money. In duo course of timo even a million or two. are exhausted'by constant demands. How are the funds of the war chest replenished? How'is it kept in a condition to meet tho ever-present demands? The methods employed by the German authorities are very simple. All money which is sent by soldiers at the front to their relatives and friends at home remains with the paymaster, who sends an order to tho. postmaster in the i city to which tho money was consigned, authorising him to pay"the amount to the addressee. Money which is sent from relatives in the interior to soldiers at tho front is actually sent. In thin way and with tho assistance of confiscated moneys or levied tributes tho strong box in tho field is constantly replenished and provided with the funds to maintain the vast military machine of which it is one of tho most important parts. The war chest is heavily guarded day and night by infantry sharpshooters and by detachments of cavalry. As it is always located with the headquarters of the General Staff, a good many miles behind the firing lino, it is reasonably safe from attack and capture by the enemy. In times of peace every little detail in the form of checking systems and devices for accounting is worked out to perfection, so that tlio work of the paymaster and his assistants in the field is comparatively free from friction and time-wasting accounting. Sums are paid out upon requisitions and orders from headquarters. They are entered in the books, and tho checking is Hone by the stay-at-homes in Berlin, which is the clearing house for the financial transactions of tho German Armv.

If sums of money are captured from the enemy the coins are serif to Berlin, melted, and cast into German currency and rcshipped to the front. If paper money is captured or confiscated it romains in the strong box of the paymaster until after the war, when it is exchanged for currency by the country which originally issued it.