The morning after my arrival I called at the Canadian War Office--the Cecil Chambers, the Strand, London. I had a letter of introduction to Major General J. Carson, who was then the official representative of the Canadian War Office in England. I was there informed by Staff Captain Oulster that the General was in France, and that he, the Captain, could not tell me when he would get back. I therefore seized the opportunity to go to my home town in West Cumberland, being furnished with the necessary railway warrant. This I appreciated and needless to say I was very pleased to visit the town of my birth, although it was many years since I had left it. I still had friends there whom I was as glad to see as they were to see me. Whilst there, I had related to me the following incident: On the west coast of Cumberland there is a small seaport town named Harrington, which is about four miles from where I was born. In this little town there are a number of blast furnaces, and adjacent to the furnaces there are some by-product works. The product made here is used, I suppose, in the making of munitions. These by-product works had been erected several years ago by German workmen, all the foremen and managers being also German. After the work was completed many of these Germans remained in the immediate neighbourhood. Nobody at that time thought anything about it, but shortly after the war there was a rude awakening one morning. For this little town was shelled by a submarine that had penetrated up the Solway Firth with the object of destroying the by-product works. However the attack was unsuccessful. It was discovered later on that the wife of one of our leading citizens, who was herself a German, had boasted to her maid about the cleverness of the Germans, who remembered the locality and returned to destroy these works. It was due to the good common sense displayed by this Cumberland girl, who reported the boastful German lady to the authorities, that she was interned. This set the authorities moving, and they discovered that all along the coast for many miles prominent houses had been erected within recent years. All of them were occupied and owned by Germans. It was a very simple matter for any one in these houses to signal out to sea. However, I am pleased to say short work was made of any German who was living in these houses. Later on I was pleased to meet two fellow townsmen of mine, both of whom had won the V.C. whilst serving with the border regiment in France. Another friend of mine that I met in civilian clothes, who, I thought, should be with the colours, was a big strong looking young man. When I rather angrily asked why he was not serving, he fumbled at his throat and tried to speak, his face flushing at the same time. He then drew out of his pocket a small slate and with a slate pencil wrote on it these words, "I can't speak, Jim, the Hun gas has destroyed my throat and tongue."