Page:The Earl of Mayo.djvu/177

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HIS MILITARY POLICY
169

and discipline, enable a whole regiment to be housed for a smaller sum than, under the old system of imposing but less comfortable structures, it would have cost to house three companies.' Wherever he went, one of the first things he wished to see was the hospital; and every sanitary requirement was sure of his liberal support.

To the difficult problem of making fit provision for the children and orphans of the British soldiers in India, he devoted much earnest thought; and, among other measures, appointed a committee with a view to the more efficient working of the noble bequest of Sir Henry Lawrence. A thick file of papers before me bears witness to his personal interest in the Lawrence Asylums. Regimental workshops, exhibitions, and every device for keeping alive the mental vitality of the British soldier under the strain of the Indian climate, found in him a constant friend. As regards improvements in efficiency, it may here be briefly stated that during his rule the Indian army was equipped with a better weapon, the artillery was furnished with the most approved rifled guns, and the cold weather camps of exercise, which now form so important a feature in the Indian military training, were inaugurated under his own eye. For these and for every other measure with a view to perfecting the Indian defences, the Earl of Mayo, however severe might be the strain of his financial necessities, found the requisite funds. He desired to avoid waste, but he was resolved above all things to secure efficiency;