27 JULY 1912, Page 3

On Thursday Mr. Asquith, on the vote for the Committee

of Imperial Defence, described the work of that body. The system adopted is one of sub-Committees, "manageable in dimensions and informal in procedure." The reports of these sub-Committees are later considered by the Committee as a whole. The permanent sub-Committees are (1) the Home Ports Defence Committee, (2) the Oversea Defence Committee, (3) the Committee for the Co-ordination of Departmental Action on the outbreak of war, (4) the Air Committee. The third sub-Committee is composed of the principal permanent officials of the various departments of State. It has, we are told, compiled a War Book which assigns to each department, War, Admiralty, Home Office, Foreign Office, Board of Trade, and others, its responsibility for action under every head of war policy.