ry authorities to conceal bad
news -- Experts at fault in the Press -- Tendency to take the
Press too seriously in this country -- Some of its blunders
during the war -- A proposal to put German officer prisoners on
board transports as a protection -- A silly mistake over the
promotion of general-officers -- Why were Tanks not adopted
before the war! -- A paean about Sukhomlinoff -- A gross
misstatement -- Temporary officers and high positions in the
field -- A suggestion that the Press should censor itself in time
of war; its absurdity -- The Press Bureau -- Some of its mistakes
-- Information allowed to appear which should have been censored
-- Difficulties of the censors -- The case of the shell shortage
-- Difficulty of laying down rules for the guidance of censors --
The Press and air-raids -- A newspaper proprietor placed at the
head of the Air Service -- The result -- The question of
announcing the names of units that have distinguished themselves
-- Conclusion.

CHAPTER XVIII

SOME CRITICISMS, SUGGESTIONS, AND GENERALITIES.......... 328

Post-war extravagance -- The Office of Works lavish all through
-- The Treasury -- Its unpopularity in the spending departments
-- The Finance Branch of the War Office -- Suggestions -- The
change with regard to saluting -- Red tabs and red cap-bands -- A
Staff dandy in the West -- The age of general-officers --
Position of the General Staff in the War Office -- The project of
a Defence Ministry -- No excuse for it except with regard to the
air services, and that not a sufficient excuse -- Confusion
between the question of a Defence Ministry and that of the
Imperial General Staff -- The time which must elapse before newly
constituted units can be fully depended upon, one of the most
important lessons for the public to realize -- This proved to be
the case in almost every theatre and in the military forces of
almost every belligerent -- Misapprehensions about South Africa
-- Improvised units could not have done what the "Old
Contemptibles" did -- Conclusion.

CHAPTER I

THE OUTBREAK OF WAR

Unfair disparagement of the War Office during the war --
Difficulties under which it suffered owing to pre-war misconduct
of the Government -- The army prepared, the Government and the
country u