Chapter 18

SOME CRITICISMS, SUGGESTIONS, AND GENERALITIES.......... 328

Post-war extravagance -- The Office of Works lavish all through -- The Treasury -- Its unpopularity in the spending departments -- The Finance Branch of the War Office -- Suggestions -- The change with regard to saluting -- Red tabs and red cap-bands -- A Staff dandy in the West -- The age of general-officers -- Position of the General Staff in the War Office -- The project of a Defence Ministry -- No excuse for it except with regard to the air services, and that not a sufficient excuse -- Confusion between the question of a Defence Ministry and that of the Imperial General Staff -- The time which must elapse before newly constituted units can be fully depended upon, one of the most important lessons for the public to realize -- This proved to be the case in almost every theatre and in the military forces of almost every belligerent -- Misapprehensions about South Africa -- Improvised units could not have done what the "Old Contemptibles" did -- Conclusion.