RECRUITING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 254, 27 October 1939, Page 6

RECRUITING

Sir,—A certain weekly paper recently emphasised that there was a rather obvious slackening in the number of recruits for the Special Forces. When men with two children are accepted then there appears to be something wrong with the single men. , Might 1 repeat the arguments. 1 which were very popular a few years ago. that the surest way to prevent war was to dress all soldiers up in floursacks. Without saying that the uniform of the infantryman especially approaches the cut. of the flour sacK, 1 might I be permitted to point out that the Mount Egmont hat, with its undulating brim, and the narrow stovc1 pipe trousers do not add to the appearance. Last. Saturday morning I observed the proud bearing of a smartly turned out Air Force recruit and also witnessed the dejection of the not-so-specialised infantryman. I was ’ somewhat reminded of my own Territorial days when I dodged down the alleyways of a Wellington Street. The uniform of an officer in the Territorials has been further made more ridiculous by the hats wnich have been just recently issued. The ‘ crowns are ever higher and the fell is that of a cow-dung brown. By the . way, has anyone ever tried to climb I a fence or drive a car while clad in knee breeches and immobilised by puttees? While I am ready to join up 1 arn determined still further to fight for the abolition of class distinction as evidenced by the disparity in uniforms as issued to trie various units of the New Zealand Forces.- I am. etc., CORPORAL PENNYCUICK.