The writer of one of the letters appearing in our correspondence columns to-day draws a fascinating picture of a colony of bachelors living in a group of Nissen Huts somewhere about the Rubicon Further he would have a light railway, and by this, we presume, the means a Decauville, for the transportation of the denizens backwards and forwards to their offices. To make the picture complete, however, he should have everybody carrying all his wordly effects in a pack, or at the best in an officer's valise. And then there ought to be horse lines in the near vicinity where the members of the colony could surreptitiously win watering buckets out of which to! wash. Such a dream as this must have come to many @ man when he was atthe front. Would it not be possible to get rid of all the unnecessary trappings of civilization, reduce personal possessions to a minimum consistent with a reasonable degree of comfort, and snap fingers at convention? Doubtless some have carried it out, but hardly in the East, for the stumbling block, if attempted, would quickly be seen to be ideas of comfort. It is all a relative matter. To the foot-slogger on a long march with 80 Ib. of equipment on his shoulders, there was no higher degree of comfort than the ten-minutes' halt at the end of the hour. To the beggar in the trenches a dry dugout and the hopes of an extra tot of rum meant positive luxury. But put him out East for a year or two, and his' outlook would be bound to change. That is why such colonies as the Rubicon one require such a lot of careful study before embarking on them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.