Again, the awful catastrophe which befell the City of Halifax on December 6, 1917, when a ship loaded with high explosives exploded in the harbor, spreading death and devastation broadcast, placed a great burden upon the Garrison and proved its great value in a sudden emergency. Every officer and man of every Military Unit and Department, with all the military facilities of the Garrison were rushed into the work of removing the dead and wounded, fighting fires, preparing shelters, transporting and feeding the destitute, doing police duty and the hundred and one things that came to the hands of a willing, well-trained body of troops. The Ordnance, under Lieut.-Col. Arthur Panet, opened wide its doors, and one of the first orders issued from H.Q. was for every available man of the 63rd from McNab’s and the 66th from York and also every artilleryman of the 1st C.A. from the forts to be rushed to the city and, proceeding to the devastated area by way of the Ordnance Yard, for each to carry with him a blanket for the wounded and destitute. This order was fully carried out, Col. Panet, though himself wounded, travelling continuously to and from the area of most suffering to see that as many as possible were cared for. Major H. P. Lomas, then at the head of the Department of Supplies and Transport, met the necessities of the sufferers with the same breadth of judgment, bigness of heart and broad interpretation of regulations which marked his most successful administration throughout the war of this the essentially business department of the Service. Elsewhere in this publication will be found articles dealing with specific work done in this District during the war, so that in this article it is only attempted to give a general idea of who sat at Headquarters during these strenuous times and a general idea of the work they were called upon to originate and supervise; and it must be borne in mind as the detail of this specific work is studied and admired or condemned, the responsibility and the direction was always with that often maligned, seldom praised or congratulated, but nevertheless patient, long-suffering, faithful, headquarters. This article cannot properly close, however, without mention of the other heads of Departments in addition to those specially mentioned above because of their close association with the matters dealt with, who so heartily and with such great self-sacrifice performed their various duties, each in their turn: Lieut.-Col. J. A. Grant, Lieut.-Col. McKelvie Bell, and Col. H. S. Jaques as Assistant Directors of Medical Service. Lieut.-Colonel Houliston, Lieut.-Colonel Benoit, Lieut.-Colonel Van Tuyl, and Major Pringle, Commanding the Royal Canadian Engineers. Lieut.-Colonel Dean, Assistant Director of Transport and Supplies. Col. S. J. R. Sircom (Brig.-General upon Retirement), Assistant Director of Pay Services. Col. J. F. Macdonald, Senior Ordnance Officer. Major J. A. Proudfoot, District Signalling Officer.