Rum or Tuppence

High noon is rum time on the ships of the British Navy in temperate waters, from the dreadnaught Nelson to the little tug St. Abbs. In the tropics rum hour is 6 p. m. Then the seamen hear the quartermaster pipe, "Up spirits!" Down in the mess the caterer slops into each seaman's "basin" (bowl) one part rum in three parts water. The rum is mixed in a large tub around whose rim, in brass letters, are the words: "The King--God Bless Him." On the King's birthday all hands get a double ration of straight rum. First class petty officers get half rum, half water. Chief petty officers and warrant officers get straight rum. In the great 19th Century days of the British Navy, the man who passed up his rum ration and took the Government's allowance of tuppence (4-c-) instead, was looked on as "One of Aggie's Men."* After every victory the men were given a double ration of straight rum.

Times have changed with Britain and the British Navy. Last week the Admiralty announced that 60% of the men now pass up the rum for the tuppence. This is a particularly hard state of affairs since the rum costs the Navy less than a penny a portion. Cash handed out to abstainers represents a clear loss of one penny per day per abstainer. At the end of a month each abstaining British seaman has five shillings rum allowance with which he can buy a whole quart of cheap rum.

*Agnes Weston, famed British temperance worker and self-styled "Sailor's Friend," died some ten years ago, aged 90.

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