Shanghai, Feb. 12.
AVING just returned from a trip to Singapore and contacted a number of Shanghai Boys i and around that city, it would appear that a lot of points regarding British Army recruits require some explanation which should be known to prospective volunteers as there now: seems 10 be considerable misunderstanding.
The majority of the men whom 1 contacted and heard of seem to be under the impression that coming from. Shanghai, or for that matter anywhere in China, to serve their country they must get commissions whether they were qualified for such commissions or nol, 'The men already sent have had considerable dimiculties to contend with, 'They have been drafted in small' numbers into units already established and trained, to all intents and purposes, under active Service conditions, This drafting of entirely untrained men—except for tle service in the local volunteers naturally does not make a smooth course for these men, and while it can hardly be, vory satisfactory to the units into which these) men are drafted, these regiments or other branches of the service are made up entirely with men who have had proper army drill and training in their respective units, a. great majority having at least some years service while others have already seen active service, Consequently a recruit going into such a body of men is naturally at first rather out of his depth, Ili most enses—as one would expect <I'found that special arrangements hod been made by the units concerned to give these recruits concentrated short training, whereby they get through in several weeks what would usually take from three (0 six months, T must say that most of the eeruils seemed to" have come out quite well under these conditions.
Must Be Trained First Every few months Commanding Oficers of various regiments, tasked {0 recommend. candidates' for the Omer Cadets 'Training Unit, It therefore naturally follows that' our China recruits, with the concentrated training of only three to four weeks against regular men of several years' experience, must not expect to be recommended "by their commanding, officers before completing recruits' course, as they naturally cannot oxpect to show up nearly as well. They have, however, the advantage usually of having had better education than the majority of regular soldiers, and it they recollect that the minimum probationary period stated was three months (six in the U, K,) and then of down to work properly, and study really hard, they eventually must got their' chanco, This Is the answer to any young men who may grumble because they do not immediately get recommended to be prospective oticers, Looking over the list of the few men I confacted and heard of, the percentage of Shanghai Boys so far recommended extremely good, those who seem disappointed are deluding themselves that they can un before they can walk and, sorry to say, show a ten dency to think they know better than their superiors, Menial Tiisks Necessary AN Volunteers must understand that in any army in the world it is not possible for men to become commanders immediately, and there are 4 Jot of tasks (many of them menial) which must be done by all soldiers to enable their particular regiments or units to be self-contained, "A number fof remarks were made to me by re-fruits from Shanghai saying that they did not join the army to clean barracks and equipment, and barrack squares, ete, Somebody must do this type of work, It is neither feasible nor economic' for a modern army to have innumerable camp followers 10 every private soldier, to do the many. foliguing tasks, and' so confine the soldiers to actual fighting only, The burnishing of buckets and equipment, and heel-plates of boots may not seem to a man to be partic ocularly useful, but between the hours of training and recreation, essential to build up or maintain the high standard of personal and coliec~ tive cleanliness, self-pride, smartness. and such thugs which' make the Brilish army the envy and the British Tommy the finest Aghting man (under "li circumstances) that there the world, Also it keeps him from getting into trouble, and looking at it from all angles the time is certainly, not wasted!
The question of normal fatigues, eleaning barracks and - barrack squares, and various other jobs are absolutely essential fof the health and welfare of every unit, The troops are extremely lucky in Malaya where they are housed in good quarters, airy znd cool, in fact they are issued' with pyjamas, mosquito nets; etc. They [ere well-fed having proper cooks, besides which there are—built-up latrines, and various other advantages, [Should, however, they move out of barracks they will have to erect ana maintain such sundries, therefore it is essential to engrain into men the necessity and ability to doing jobs such as cooking, fatigue, and digging and Alling in latrines, ete,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.