Before we leave the Report we will quote verbatim the
Committee's summary of the machinery created by them. "The. Defence Committee, assisted by a small Secretariat, will deal with questions of National Defence, and will foresee Imperial requirements, The General Officers Commanding- in-Chief, assisted by the General Staff, will be able to concen- trate their energies upon the training and the preparation of the Forces of the Crown for War. The Major-Generals in the eight Districts will be able to devote themselves to ad- ministration. The Inspector-General and his staff will watch over the working of the military system, and bring to light its defects. Lastly, the Army Council, freed from routine, will find the time and the means to direct military policy, to fore- see military requirements, and to frame the measures of organisation, the neglect of which in time of peace entaili disaster or ruinously expensive improvisation in war." So ends the first part of the Report. The nation has, we believe, good reason to be grateful _to. the men who have remodelled the War Office. If they had done nothing but put the offices of Secretary of State and Commander-in-Chief in commission, they would have accomplished a great work. But they have done more, and have laid down many principles of the greatest moment. It is because, on the whole, we warmly support the Committee's work that we so intensely desire that its value should not be impaired by the defect which we have pointed out elsewhere in regard to the treatment of the Auxiliary Forces.
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