1 SEPTEMBER 1917, Page 3

Take again the case of Mr. Stokes, the inventor of

the Stokes gun. No gun is better known in the trenches ; none has done more execution among the Germans, and none has proved a better or more trusty friend to the British soldier. Yet Mr. Stokes receives a comparatively small reward. If we assume, is we ought to be able to do in the case of the new Orders, that each distinction should be a correct measure of really valuable service, then one can under. stand more fully than ever the spirit in which Wellesley exclaimed when he was awarded his Irish marquisate : " What am I to do with this gilded potato ? There has been nothing Irish or pinch- beck in my conduct. I do not see why there should be anything Irish or pinchbeck in my reward."