PROVISIONS OF THE TROOPS— QUESTION. (Hansard, 13 February 1854)

§ MR. S. HERBERT

said, that at the present moment the troops were supplied with rations in four different ways. Abroad they were supplied with provisions in some instances by means of a fixed sum of 3½d. per diem stopped out of their pay, the soldiers receiving from the Government less pay by 1d. a day than they did at home. In Ireland the troops were rationed by regimental contract, and the stoppage made for provisions out of their pay varied with the market price of food; but that stoppage 490 was fixed at a maximum of 6d. per diem. In England the troops were supplied by public contract, and was subject to the oscillation in the prices; but in their case also the sum stopped out of their pay was fixed at a maximum of 6d., the Government having taken upon themselves to pay the difference between that sum and the actual cost of the rations provided. There were also the artillery and the household troops, and they received their rations by regimental contract. At the present moment, owing to the high price of provisions, the cost of rations had reached the maximum. In former years, it was true, that the cost was almost invariably at the maximum; but in former years the soldier's comforts were less considered than they now were, and he was not accustomed to have, as he now is, three meals a day. The result is, that consistently with the improved state of things it became almost impossible for the soldier out of his pay to provide, while prices continued so high as they now were, three meals a day. Under these circumstances, the Government had come to the conclusion that the best course to adopt in his regard would be to make a fixed stoppage from his pay, instead of permitting it to vary, as hitherto, according to the market price of food. But, upon the other hand, the soldier had a clear right to be charged no more for his rations, upon the average, than those rations had actually cost—that was to say, that in no circumstances ought the Government to make a profit by the soldier. Now, upon looking back over the account of the actual cost of rations for the last ten years, he (Mr. S. Herbert) found that it varied on an average from 4½d. to a sum less by a fraction than 5d. It is proposed, therefore, to take 4½d. as the stoppage which should be made for rations out of the pay of the soldier. He should take additional precautions also to ensure that the provisions supplied for those rations should be of a good description. Those provisions would be supplied by public contract, and steps would be taken to secure that there should be no undue proportion of bone to the meat. The bread furnished to the troops in future would not be brown bread, as had been hitherto the case, but would consist of such as was made from flour of the second quality. Further than that, in order that there should be no chance of the soldier being deprived of his right, or of his being charged on an average of years more than the cost of his ration would justify, it was provided 491 that there should be exact accounts kept of the contracts for the supply of provisions. It was proposed that the arrangement should be revised, if necessary, at the end of five years; but if before the expiration of that period it should appear, from any unexpected and permanent depreciation in prices, that the sum of 4½d. was higher than the average amount that need be paid for rations, the arrangement would then, if it should be thought necessary, undergo a revision. The artillery and household troops, who had a higher rate of pay, would be allowed an option of claiming if they chose a continuance of the present system. This arrangement would, he might state, at the present prices, considerably increase the cost of the troops to the Exchequer.