A SPECTACLED ARMY.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1134, 18 October 1882, Page 2

A SPECTACLED ARMY.

♦ "In fitting out the Egyptian expedition," says a Home paper, "we are glad to say that everything possible is being done by the Government to alleviate the suffering of our troops during the campaign. Unfortunately, the hot season will have set in before the war commences. To protect the eyes of our soldiers against the blazing Egyptian sun 20,000 pairs of blue spectacles have been ordered, and a pair is to be given to each man pi-e---vious to his embarkation. Each soldier is also to be provided with an Indian helmet and a veil. We have heard a good deal about the cutting off the water supply, but, so long as water can be obtained at all, our troops will be all right, as each man will carry, one of those excellent silicated carbon pocket filters which proved of such immense value in the Ashanteeand Zulu wars. Besides their superior purifying properties, the filters now supplied have the advantage of having the carbon enclosed in a china cell for protection, making the filters better fitted to stand rough usage. An extra 5000 of these pocket fifters have just been ordered of the Silicated Carbon Filter Company, Battersea, who are also supplying a number of ambulance filters of the pattern approved of by the Army Medical Eepartment." No wonder the Egyptians made such a poor stand against Sir Garnet Wolsely. Who could w thstand the extraordinary sight of an army of blue-spectacled, white-helmeted beings, swooping down on them ! The British forces, with their veils and goggles, must look more like a body of savans fossicking in the sands of the deseit for buried ruins or fossil specimens, than a sensible body of disciplined troops.