Standing Rules for Officers' Messes
of The Royal Canadian Regiment

Headquarters
Officers' Mess Rules

1913

No dogs will be allowed into the Mess or Ante Room, and mess servants will be directed to drive out all dogs that may at any time enter the mess.

1.     The Officers Mess shall be conducted accordance with the instructions relating thereto, contained in K. R. & O., and Standing Orders of the R.C.R.

2.     All officers of the Permanent Force shall be ipso facto Honorary Members of the mess.

3.     Officers attached for duty or for instruction will be considered temporary members of the mess while on pay. but these officers however will have no voice in the control and management of the mess.

Honorary Members

4.     Officers of the Active Militia, retired officers of the Imperial Forces and civilians may be made Honorary members of the mess, subject to the approval of the commanding officer. Such Honorary members, however, shall not be permitted to ask friends at the mess.

Officers attached for duty or for instruction will not have the privilege of proposing Honorary members.

5.     Officers of H. M. Imperial Service, Naval and Military, not resident at the station and who shall have first called at the mess, may be invited as Honorary members during their short stay in the Citv by the Mess Committee only, but not before same has been approved by the O. C. Regiment.

6.      A list of all Honorary members shall be kept by the Mess Secretary written in the minute book.

Subscriptions

7.     The entrance subscription of the permanent officers shall be 30 days pay, and an additional subscription of 8 days pay for dining members, and 6 days for non-dining members, per annum, such officers on promotion will pay an additional 30 days pay or the difference between their former and present rate of pay. this subscription will be used for defraying the household expenses of the mess.

Subscriptions of officers attached for duty shall be same as that laid down for the permanent officers with the exception that there shall be no entrance fee.

Militia officers attached for instruction will pay a prorata subscription at the rate of $3.00 per month to the mess for the period of their course. (Para. 912 K. R. & O.)

The attention of all officers is also called to Para. 913 K. R. & O. Canada 1910, re expenses incurred at the mess, etc.

All Subscriptions with the exception of those on appointment only, shall be paid monthly, and in the case of attached officers at each settlement of accounts.

Committee

8.     The affairs of the mess shall be regulated by a committee, to consist of a president and two members, all to be permanent officers, one of the members to be appointed secretary and the other treasurer.

Secretary

9.     The Mess Secretary's duties will be principally to look after the property of the mess, such as to keep up the stock, glass, linen, cutlery, furniture, and to see that they are kept in sufficient supply and to bring to the notice of the President breakages or and deficiencies or anything in fact that will lead to the proper administration of the mess.

Treasurer

10.     The Treasurer will see that all accounts with the messman and tradesman areduly paid, he will also be held responsible for the stock of wines placed in his charge and that all mess and wine bills are made out and issued on or before the 5th of each succeeding month, and that the same are paidon or before the 7th. on which dare any member neglecting to do so will be reported to the O. C. Regiment by the committee.

Election of Committee

11.     All members of the committee shall be elected at a general mess meeting, quarterly.

Duties of Committee

12.      The committee shall see that the Standing Rules are carried out in their entirety, and that no outlay except for ordinary or current expenditure shall be made without the authority of a general mess meeting. It shall be the duty of the President of the Mess Committee to prepare the general charges, and he will be responsible for their correctness. They will not be divided until the several items have been submitted and approved by him.

Complaints

13.     All complaints concerning the messing or the neglect or misconduct of the mess servants will invariably be made to the President of the mess in writing and a book marked "Complaint Book" will be kept by the Mess Secretary where officers will make their complaints, and no officers not on the committee shall call any servant personally to account for any real or alleged misconduct, this being the special duty of the committee.

General Meeting

14.     The general meeting may be called at any time by the committee, under the authority of the O. C. Regiment. The monthly mess meeting shall be held on, or as soon after the 1st of each month as convenient, to audit accounts and for general business.

General Mess Meeting

A general mess meeting shall be held Quarterly on, or near the 15th January, April, July and October as may be convenient, to examine the Treasurer's accounts and for the consideration of all matters relating to the mess. At each quarterly mess meeting, a balance sheet will be submitted by the President, showing the exact standing of the mess.

Minute Book

15.     A "Minute Book" shall be kept by the Mess Secretary wherein all the ordinary proceedings of mess meetings and such resolutions as may be brought before the mess meeting will be entered.

Proposals

16.     If any officer has any suggestion to a general mess meeting, he is to submit it to the O. C. Regiment, and if given permission, place it in the Ante Room one week before such meeting takes place, for the consideration of the other members of the mess.

Officers Servants

17.     The committee will arrange for officer's servants to wait at mess properly dressed.

New Committee

18.     On the appointment of a new committee an exact inventory of the mess property and contents of the wine cellar will be handed them by the committee going out of office, and a record made in the "Minute Book" that this has been done. A wine book shall be kept in the Caterers Room where officers may ascertain the correctness of their accounts, and the officer in charge of wines will see that the book is properly kept and initialed by him daily.

19.     There will be a special guest night every Wednesday, on which occasion the Band or Orchestra as approved by the C. O. will be in attendance and all unmarried officers must attend. Officers with less than 1 year's service will in addition dine at mess twice a week unless permission is obtained from the O. C. Regiment.

On the 3rd Wednesday of each month all officers are to dine at the mess unless granted leave by the O. C. Regiment, and unless they notify the messman of their intention not to dine by 10 a. m. on the day of the dinner they will also be charged for their dinner.

A small porcelain plate will be put in the Mess Room on the date previous to the guest night taking place, where officers should enter their names and that of their guest, for the information of the Mess Secretary.

Anyone failing to observe the above rule will be chargeed double for each guest not duly warned for, which extra will be placed to the credit of the mess fund.

Public entertainment and expenses-how defrayed

19a.     At inspection dinners or luncheons all officers, married or single, must be present. The additional expenses by such inspection luncheon or dinner, including the extra cost of wines, etc consumed by the guests, will be equally defrayed by all members of the mess present and absent. Every non dining member and members dining in the mess will pay for his own lunch or dinner, and each officer will pay for such wines as he may personally have partaken of.

Entertainments to other Corps

20.     Whenever it is proposed to give an entertainment to another corps, or to any guest or guests, the rule prescribed by K. R. & O. must be complied with.

Treating

21.     Treating amongst officers is strictly prohibited, the only time that officers may be allowed to offer wines to others, being to their private guests, and this they must sign for each time that the occasion may occur.

The rule of treating is also applicable to gentlemen who are Honorary members. In the case of offering hospitality to strangers calling upon the mess the senior officer present has the privilege to offer wines, cigars or cigarettes to such visitors but in every case should sign a ticket giving the name of the party he had to entertain and write across "For Mess Committee."

Mess Property

22.     No article of mess property is allowed, under any pretence to be taken out of the mess by any officers or others; the mess, however, will provide the necessary articles for officers on guard or on the sick list.

Dinner Hour

23.     The dinner hour shall be settled by vote of two-thirds of the dining members, subject to the approval of the O. C. Regiment. All orders to the band, whether as to extra music, or for its dismissal, when it is playing at mess, shall be given by the senior officer of the mess present, only.

At general inspection dinners no member shall be allowed to invite private guests without the permission of the O. C. Regiment.

Duties of Senior Officers

24.     It is imperative on the senior combatant officer present to insure and preserve good order and gentlemanly behaviour at the table and mess premises, and to stop any offensive discussions of a personal, religious, or political nature that may tend to create discord.

No smoking shall be allowed in the Ante Room within half an hour of dinner taking place.

Any officer of the mess who should wilfully or wantonly loose or damage, break or injure, any article of mess property, shall be charged double the price of same, but if such articles are destroyed by accident on the part of any of the members, by their guests, or by their servants, they shall only pay the cost of replacing same.

In order to secure care on the part of the mess servants, a part of the cost of any article broken by them, but not exceeding one half the cost of its value shall, at the discretion of the committee, be stopped from their wages.

Papers and Magazines

25.     No papers or magazines shall be taken from the mess. As same are sold yearly to officers. they can only be removed after the arrival of later copies, and this by the mess stewards only, who will be held responsible that they are distributed to those entitled to them in accordance with the list containing the names of said officers which should be handed to him by the Mess Secretary.

Officers Dress

26.     The officers dress for mess shall be according to regulations, and no member shall be allowed to dine in "mufti" except by permission of the commanding officer, nor remain in mess room in "mufti" after the 1st bugle call for dinner is sounded.

Officers appearing on the mess premises on guest nights must either wear proper mess or evening dress, except with the permission of the senior officer present.

The regimental white mess vest will be worn on all guest nights.

Closing of Mess

27.     The mess will close at midnight. The senior present giving the order to have it closed. After the mess is closed and the waiters have left, under no circumstances are they to be roused by any officer, and no wines, etc., are to be issued after that hour. On guest night the hour of closing may be extended to 1 a. m. with the permission of the C. O.

28.     Errors or overcharges in daily "wine book" will be communicated to the Mess Sergeant within 48 hours, otherwise it cannot be rectified except for absence on duty, sickness, or other sufficient cause which will prevent the discovery of the error, and as the wine book shall be laid daily in the caterers room for inspection, it will be an officer's own fault if he does not examine it as to its correctness, and he will therefore have no right to complain.

Officers on Leave

29.     An officer proceeding on leave for three days or longer may be exempted from payment for messing provided he gives previous notice to the caterer.

Letters, etc.

30.     No officer shall be allowed to open or read them at the dinner table without the permission of the president

Dogs

31.     No dogs will be allowed into the Mess or Ante Room, and mess servants will be directed to drive out all dogs that may at any time enter the mess.

Official Books

32.     No official books or documents are to be brought into the mess premises, viz:— the ante room, mess room and billiard room.

Caps, Sticks, etc.

33.     Caps, sticks, swords, etc., will not be left therein, and the use of slippers is prohibited.

Private Accounts

34.     No accounts of a private nature will be entered in mess books or mess accounts.

Servants Livery

35.     The Footmen's or Indoor Servant's coatee and vest as worn at Headquarters' Officers Mess, Royal Canadian Regiment, Halifax, N. S. will be:

Coatee

Coatee cut after the manner of a gentleman's dress coat, the bottom of the skirt to be about 3 in. above the knee.

A long side edge is down the side pleat at the back. On this three buttons are placed, and in addition to this there is a sword flap placed on the centre of the skirt, the size of this being 11 in. long by 2in. wide, the out-line at shown on a diagram.

The front may be fastened across with a pair of links, which are made by fastening two buttons together with a split ring.

The number of buttons required, including the two with split ring, are 20 large, 4 small for the cuffs, all V. R. I., the cuffs 3 in. deep of same material as the coatee, i. e., black.

The top collar of coatee to be of scarlet the cloth, coat to be made of black material.

Vest

The vest to be of scarlet cloth (the same as collar of the coatee) and cut with long roll collar with four buttons and two pockets.

A diagram is in the possession of the Mess President.

Pro Patria

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