6 DECEMBER 1919, Page 3

The Commission expressed their opinion that it was " the

misfortune of Mr. de Mole, not his fault, that his invention was in advance of his time, and was put aside because the occasion for its use had not then arisen." The misfortune was the nation's. Mr. de Mole in 1912 invented, and apparently submitted to the War Office, a Tank design "which anticipated and in some ways surpassed that actually put into use in 1916." Why was no record kept of Mr. de Mole's invention, or why did Mr. de Mole not put his design forward again on the outbreak of war ? The loss of Mr. de Mole's invention was of course an incalculable misfortune. Surely there are files at the War Office.