At the beginning of the week there was a good
deal of talk about the so-called seizure of the National Liberal Club, and also of the Constitutional Club, the Conservative equivalent to the National Liberal, by the Government, who are greatly in need of extra accommodation in matters connected with War Office adminis- tration. Any one who has been into the War Office since the war began, and seen people working typewriters and doing important business in the corridors while an endless stream of boy messengers and persons on different errands elbow their way by them, will realize how great that need is. When one remembers that the National Liberal Club is exactly opposite the back of the War Office buildings, and that it is also close to the Hotel Metropole, now an adjunct of the Munitions Offices, it must at once be admitted that if a building was to be commandeered for War Office purposes, nothing could possibly have been better than the National Liberal Club. Besides its geographical advantages, it has everything that is required for a big office under war pressure. It has heat and light to. perfection, kitchens so that food can be prepared for the staff working on the premises, huge rooms, lifts, and in fact every possible convenience. That being so, one would have expected that the most selfish club- man, even if personally annoyed at having his private habits interfered with, would have forborne to protest, or at any rate would have been ashamed to let his protests be heard.
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