Mention of the miserable wages paid to soldiers in the service of the crown has many implications, one of my favorites being that it was those low wages, and the consequent need to find outside employment, that led to the famous (if not entirely accurate) "Boston Massacre". Starving British soldiers tried to get jobs at a "rope-walk", where they were run off by colonists already employed there. The "incident" degenerated as tempers flared, and one result can fairly be said to be added fervor to the cause of American independance. Christopher Hibbert tells the story in his "Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution Through British Eyes". A good read.