ote: Effect on Army.]

[Sidenote: Questions of above record.]

The record above given of the splendid triumph of the Admiralty
administration of Sea Transport during the war has been compiled by
Capt. A. H. Limpus, R.N., with the cordial assistance of the Transport
department of the Admiralty. The conclusion that the work of carrying
the Army by sea could not have been in more competent hands is one
which admits of no doubt in the mind of any reader who studies it.
There are, nevertheless, certain deductions to be made in regard to
the passengers carried--the greatest army ever delivered by any
country over 6,000 miles of sea-way--which closely concern the
efficiency of the instrument with which the blow of Britain has to be
struck, at points so distant from her shores. It is essential that the
management of railways shall be in the hands of the officials of the
particular company which conveys an excursion; but in order that the
undertaking may be a great success many things are needed besides the
perfect management of the trains. No one who has seen the amount of
labour and the kind of organisation required by those who yearly send
to the country the holiday-children, for instance, will fail to know
that the passengers also need to be prepared beforehand for their part
in the day. Moreover, some knowledge on the part of the most admirable
railway officials of the special needs of those they carry is
required; and, further, if any sudden change is made in the carriages
themselves, in the sequence of trains, or in other matters strictly
belonging to the functions of the company, this, if not communicated
to the managers of the excursion, may introduce dire confusion.

[Sidenote: A new experience needs special training.]

An army has over the holiday travellers the advantage of its
long-established unity, its discipline, and its training, but
embarkation and disembarkation are entirely outside its ordinary
experience. It needs, therefore, being much accustomed to work by
habit, to be prepared both for getting on board ship, and, still more,
for getting off it, in the manner that will best enable it to fulfil
its duties, and, as time is very precious, to do this with the least
possible delay, both in order to play completely into the hands of the
officers in charge of the ships and in order to be itself at its best
when it lands. This is the more easily accomplished because a ship in
dock is virtually a part of the ma