told me that he noticed a strong smell of chloride of lime, & then his eyes began to be painful – I see by the papers today that Mr Asquith makes a statement to the effect that the army was not being hampered by want of ammunition. He is either a first rate liar, or is quite ignorant of the state of affairs. With unlimited ammunition for gun & howitzers we could make great progress – guns of field artillery are limited to two rounds per gun per diem, and I think it is much the same for howitzers; but of course this does not refer to the occasions on which we are attacked – or attack – but owing to the lack of ammunition we are quite unable to damage the German parapet