29. The first duty of a soldier, therefore, is to clean his rifle every morning as soon as there is sufficient light to enable him to do so; an hour will be appointed by O. C. company for this purpose. The platoon sergeant will be responsible that section commanders superintend this work, and inspect the rifles of their section. Any man who is found with a dirty rifle will be made a prisoner.
30. All rifles by day to be in racks, except those used by the sentries, and arrangements should be made by section commanders to improvise racks if they are not provided.
31. Great care is to be exercised to keep the trenches clean and in a sanitary condition. Platoon commanders will be responsible for the latrines in their section of the trenches. Any man fouling the trenches will be severely dealt with. No water is to be taken for drinking or cooking purposes except from the water cart or tanks provided for this purpose. Disregard of this regulation will probably cause an outbreak of typhoid or dysentery amongst the men of the company.
32. Stretcher bearers will be stationed at a place appointed by the C. O. If a man is wounded, information should be sent at once to these stretcher bearers, whose duty it is to carry wounded to the aid post or dressing station.
Men should not be taken from the firing line for this purpose.
33. No soldier is to be buried nearer than 300 yards from the trenches.
34. In each platoon a N. C. O. will be detailed for duty by day. This N. C. O. will do no night duty, but will get a full night's rest. His duties are to post the day sentries and to see that they are alert and carrying out their duties correctly. He will be generally responsible for the cleanliness of his lines and will frequently visit the latrines. It is part of his duties to see that any loose ammunition lying about is collected.
35. The platoon sergeant will always send, if possible, a N. C. O.[2] to draw the rations, and this N. C. O. will be responsible for their safe delivery. This especially applies to the issue of coke. The C. S. M. will, prior to his day of relief from the trenches, always collect the articles of trench equipment supplied for his company and make out a list of the same. These articles will be handed over to the company sergeant major of the relieving company.
36. The system of passing down messages by word of mouth, man to man, must not be used. If an officer or N. C. O. has anything important to report he should do so in writing. If there is no time to do this, a special messenger should be intrusted with a verbal message which should afterwards be confirmed in writing.
37. Special instructions have been issued as to precautions against gas. These are to be strictly followed.