learned first and taught to others afterwards, how under his planning and guidance the factory had been set running, how efficiently and fast it was turning out the work, how the Ministry in London had admitted the usefulness of workings and figures furnished by him, and, finally, how all his work had been and was being done without a penny of salary or recompense. It isn’t a bad “bit” for one man to be doing. In startling contrast to the Room of the Old Men I was introduced to the works manager--aged 22. His is an old head on young shoulders, however, and I heard much of his share in the factory’s “bit.” “Takes his job serious, does our works manager,” I was told. “When we were puzzling out ways o’ work he used to sit up nights thinkin’ shells, an’ go to ’s bed dreamin’ shells. Took it that serious, couldn’t see a joke if ’t poked him in the eye.” And the works manager just grinned and let it go at that. It was in this same factory, by the way, that I met one of those inspectors who in all factories pass the completed shells as correct, and who, in this instance, was an ex-cheesemonger. Amongst these same inspectors you can find ex- all sorts of trades and professions, from actors and acrobats to schoolmasters and sausage-makers. There was a question raised in Parliament recently about these men, and a good deal of would-be wit was expended on the folly of employing such amateurs to act as experts. But, after all, I see no faintest reason for the gibes. The work these men are doing is not impossible or even difficult for an intelligent man to learn. They have to pass gauges over the shell and the shell must fit all the gauges. They have to see that no flaw or crack is visible, that varnish is smooth and even, and so on. There is nothing, I should say, nearly as difficult in finding flaws in a shell as there is in making the same shell--and the shell has been made by once unskilled hands or “amateurs.” When all is said and done, the very great majority of munition-makers to-day are amateurs, although they have each become expert on their own work--as the inspectors have. The British Army that is going to whip Germany presently is composed almost solidly of amateur soldiers, of just the same ex- this, that, and t’other trade and profession as the munition workers and inspectors. And, when you think of it, many Members of Parliament are themselves amateurs at their job, or were not long since, and were also ex-all-sorts before they were M.P.’s. I don’t see why they should fling stones at the amateur inspectors who, like everybody else on this game, are only doing their best to “do their bit.”