Everything, therefore, depended upon the security of the pipe-line, and the idea which was in the minds of many who opposed the scheme as to the possibility of supplies being cut off by the activities of the insurgents, was by no means a mistaken one; the pipe-line was, in fact, partially destroyed, and the transport of fuel oil held up for a long time. As a nation, we have all along had to depend upon imported petroleum products, and, inasmuch as our supplies could be drawn at will from a variety of producing countries, the idea that we might at one time find ourselves cut off from supply does not appear to have occurred to many. No sooner had the war started, however, than we found, owing to the closing of the Dardanelles, that both Russia and Roumania could no longer attend to our requirements, while the Far East, owing to the great ocean journey necessitated to this country (and the quickest way lay through the Mediterranean) could not maintain regular shipments with us. It is fortunate that we found the United States willing, and from the start very desirous, to do all that was possible to help us out of a difficulty; while Mexico, with its wealth of British oil interests, catered in every way for the meeting of the enormous demands we made upon its resources. To say that petroleum products have played a highly-important part in the conduct of the war is but to under-estimate facts. The importance of their part has been equal to that of the supply of guns and shells, and, when the statement was made in the House of Commons in 1917 that adequate supplies of petroleum were quite as essential as men and munitions, petroleum’s part was then not over-stated. Rather would I say it was on the contrary, for, had there been at any time a dearth of any classification of petroleum products, then the vast naval and army organization, both on and across the water, would immediately have lost its balance, and our great fighting units would automatically have become useless. Just think of it for a moment. To-day, our great naval fighters--take the _Queen Elizabeth_, for instance--rely upon fuel oil for purposes of power, while our second and third line units must also have it, for, whether it be fuel oil or the lighter products of the oil refinery--I refer to motor spirit--it matters not, so far as supply is concerned. The whole of our winged fleets in the air must, of necessity, be useless unless they can regularly draw large quantities of motor spirit, and the volume they consume, even on a single trip, would surprise many, though it is not possible here to enter into figures. At first sight one might be inclined to think that, apart from petroleum products being a very useful adjunct to the organization of battles on land, their use is not of a very real nature, but, if we pause for one moment, our first impressions are disillusioned.