The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1915. THE BRITISH WAR OFFICE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 28, 2 June 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1915. THE BRITISH WAR OFFICE.

The reconstruction of the British Ministry on the lines taken indicates the gravity of the crisis with which. Britain is laced, ami the internal readjustment of portfolios a recognition that the burden of responsibility on one Minister is too great in such strenuous times. The Lyttelton Times says the present coalition brushes aside all the differences that have divided Liberals and Conservatives, and party government has, for the time, ceased to exist. This, of course, is the outstanding feature of the reorganisation, and it may be accepted that the immediate inspiration of the coalition is the determination to avoid an appeal to the constituencies at such a crisis, hut the composition of the new Cabinet reflects, also, the immediate difficulties of the Government. The division of responsibility for the conduct of the war is the feature that impresses one in this connection. The fact that .Mr Lloyd George has been appointed to organise a special department to control ! the supply of ammunition has its personal interest, hut it is rather the broader question that is of interest just now. The Times also points out there was no special Secretary for War until the end of the eighteenth century, and down to 1854 the War Office and the Colonial Office were associated under one secretary, who was stationed at the Colonial Office, and whose control of the Army was extremely limited. Matters have been vastly improved since the days of the Crimean War, when a partial financial control was exercised by a Minister called the "Secretary at War,", the Conunandor-in-Chicf being respon-

sible for matters of discipline and patronage. The artillery and engineers were wilder the Master-General and Hoard of Ordnance, which was a semi-independent body, supplying material on requisition, while the commissariat department «;is controlled from the Treasury, and the militia from the Home Office. The British War Office and the Colonial Office were separated in ISo-l, and a year later the functions of the Secretary at War Mere vested in the Secretary of State for War, the commissariat department was transferred to the War Office, and the Hoard of Ordnance abolished. This reorganisation, though extensive, was not complete, for it left unsettled the relative functions of the War Secretary and i lie Commander-in-Chief, and. indeed, this particular difficulty was not overcome until recent ye'ars. It is impossible to follow out tht" history of all the reforms here, but it may be said that the present system of control-was the result of investigation set on foot after the Boer War, in the course of which widespread inefficiency was revealed. Now another important change lias had to be made, the explanation being, of course, that a system devised (o serve the need. l * of

-a comparatively small professional I army, has proved quite inadequate to deal with the demands oi three milI lions of armed men. The amazing feature of the administration has been not the failure of particular departments, hut the magnitude of the work done by a machine built u> do no more than one-iifth, perchance one-tenth, oi the present demand.