st district in the
winter of 1914-15 -- Nature of my staff -- The "dug-outs" -- The
services of one of them, "Z" -- His care of me in foreign parts
-- His activities in other Departments of State -- An alarming
discovery -- How "Z" grappled with a threatening situation -- He
hears about the Admiralty working on the Tanks -- The
cold-shouldering of Colonel Swinton when he raised this question
at the War Office in January 1915 -- Lord Fisher proposes to
construct large numbers of motor-lighters, and I am told off to
go into the matter with him -- The Baltic project -- The way it
was approached -- Meetings with Lord Fisher -- The "beetles" --
Visits from the First Sea Lord -- The question of secrecy in
connection with war operations -- A parable -- The land service
behind the sea service in this matter -- Interviews with Mr.
Asquith -- His ways on such occasions.

These random jottings scarcely lend themselves to the scrupulous
preservation of a chronological continuity. Many other matters
meriting some mention as affecting the War Office had claimed one's
attention before the Dardanelles campaign finally fizzled out early in
January 1916. The General Staff had to some extent been concerned in
the solutions arrived at by the Entente during the year 1915 of those
acutely complex problems which kept arising in the Balkans. Then,
again, quite a number of "side-shows" had been embarked on at various
dates since the outbreak of the conflict, of which some had been
carried through to a successful conclusion to the advantage of the
cause, while the course of others had been of a decidedly chequered
character. The munitions question, furthermore, which had for a time
caused most serious difficulty but which had been disposed of in great
measure by the end of 1915 owing to the foresight and the labours of
Lord Kitchener and of the Master-General of the Ordnance's Department,
was necessarily one in which the Military Operations Directorate was
deeply interested. These and a number of other matters will be dealt
with in special chapters, but some more or less personal experiences
in and around Whitehall may appropriately be placed on record here.

Already, early in the winter of 1914-15, the statisticians were busily
at work. They had found a bone and they were gnawing at it to their
heart's content. Individuals of indisputable capacity and of infinite
applicat