There was nearly always something of interest going on at Aire. On the broad canal the many barges presented a picturesque sight. The French, unlike us, make the greatest possible use of their canals and waterways, and their barges would, I think, put anything of the kind that one might see on the Thames quite in the shade. The use of these barges has been invaluable to our Army: some have been lavishly fitted up as Red Cross barges, and, in charge of officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps, gently bear down the more seriously wounded from the front to the casualty clearing hospitals, in a degree of comfort that could not possibly be approached by motor ambulance cars on bad roads. These lavishly equipped hospital barges are indeed worthy of comparison with our magnificent ambulance trains running on the French State railways between the casualty clearing hospitals and the base. Any one who has studied the map and knows the position of La Bassée Canal will at once realize of what use this waterway has been as a means of evacuating wounded. Among other _divertissements_ there duly arrived at Aire a flotilla of motor-gunboats, commanded by a real live Admiral, with his second in command, a celebrated surgeon and bone-setter from Harley Street. Amongst the other officers of the flotilla was Earl de la Warr, who has since lost his life in the service of his country in another quarter of the globe. His own yacht, having been armed and suitably fitted up, formed one of the flotilla. The gunboats were anchored in the canal at Aire for some time. Exactly what they were intended to do we never actually discovered. In the end they did nothing, but departed as mysteriously as they had arrived. We heard at a later date that some had gone to the Dardanelles, and others were being used for spotting German submarines in the English Channel, a job for which, judging by their speed, size, and light draught, they must be eminently suitable. Whilst the gunboats were at Aire, I spent some cheery evenings in the wardroom with the gallant members of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve who officered them—the second in command not infrequently himself cooking the dinner on board. Aire having been before the war a training centre of the French Army, boasted a very good rifle-range, and here our lorry drivers were instructed in the use of the rifle. In those days drafts of troops, arriving from home, used to be frequently detrained at Aire and other stations in its vicinity, and great interest and excitement was evinced at the arrival of the famous 1st Division of the new Armies to come to France, who marched through on their way up to the trenches. A finer set of men, in the uniforms of almost every Scottish regiment, it would have been difficult to imagine, as one saw them file through the narrow streets of this old town.