In this particular venture, a naval man, a military man, and a civilian strike one as a good combination to be allotted to a given centre of importance. A paradoxical coalition abroad, in that it should ever be apart and yet together; each should know the other and yet be strangers; each should be in constant touch with the others' movements and yet be separated by every outward sign. The duties of Service men should be limited to those of consulting experts, whilst specially selected and trained individuals should be employed to carry out active requirements. In some places and in some instances Service men can undertake executive work better perhaps than anyone else could do; but these opportunities are limited. Perhaps they may almost be classed as the exceptions which prove the rule. There seems to be an unwritten rule in the British Secret Service that no one should be engaged for any position of any importance below the rank of captain. In the head office it was a saying: "We are all captains here." And it may be assumed that every officer so engaged in the Intelligence also ranked as a staff officer. Most people have an idea that the pay in the British Secret Service is high, even princely. On this they may as well at once undeceive themselves; the pay is mean compared with the risks run, yet officers are keen on entering the B.S.S., as it is known to be a sure stepping-stone to promotion and soft fat future jobs. Germany was said to vote about £750,000 per annum to cover direct Secret Service work, in addition to £250,000 for subsidising the foreign Press; £1,000,000 each year in all. Yet certain members of the House of Commons grudgingly and somewhat reluctantly gave their consent to the £50,000 originally asked for at the end of 1914 by the English Secret Service Department. The actual amounts voted and expended on English Secret Service work are shown hereunder. _Year ending 31st March._ _Grant._ _Expended._ 1912 £50,000 £48,996 1913 50,000 48,109 1914 50,000 46,840 1915 110,000 107,596 1916 400,000 398,698 1917 620,000 593,917 1918 750,000 740,984 1919 1,150,000 1,207,697 1920 200,000 (_not known_) How much of the money was actually available for direct Secret Service work, and how much may have been diverted into other or indirect channels (_exempli gratia_--the Liberal solatium of £1,200 per annum to Mr. Masterman for perusing foreign newspapers)[7] is not known; nor has the government allowed any explanation to be given.