"Colonel Seeley, Secretary of State for War, said yesterday: We have
decided that the Army should have small _dirigibles_ which could be
packed up in _boxes_, put in motor-lorries or in ships, and sent
wherever they are required. These we have got. These dirigibles, I
say without hesitation--and all who understand the matter will agree--
are superior to any other kind of portable airship. They have various
mechanical advantages, which I do not wish to dwell upon, because
those concerned believe the secret is our own, enabling them to rise
more rapidly in the air, and enabling them, above all, to avoid having
to part with hydrogen when they rise, and therefore there is no need
for reinforcing the hydrogen when they fall. They have these
advantages, which we believe are _superior to those of any other
nation_."
Then, pausing, the colonel raised his eyes to mine, and, with a merry
laugh, asked:
"Now. What do you think of that for a Ministerial statement eh?"
"Perhaps, instead of putting them in boxes, we might have had them put
into paper bags, and distributed with pounds of tea?" suggested Teddy.
"Why not?"
"But I don't see how it affects the present situation at all," I argued.
"We are surely much wiser now than we were three years ago."
"Well--let's hope so," laughed the colonel. "But that speech is full of
grim humour--is it not?"
And with that we were compelled to agree.