This proved to be his and the Lloyd empire's downfall in 1918. In April 1918, Lloyd George, by then prime minister, assured the House of Commons that the British army had not been reduced numerically before meeting the German onslaught in March. This was questioned by Sir Frederick Maurice, the general responsible for military management on the Western Front. The "Chronicle" reported the Maurice Debate in the House of Commons factually, but Donald then employed Maurice as the paper's military correspondent. Enraged, Lloyd George persuaded Sir Henry Dalziel, already a newspaper owner, to take over the "Chronicle". Money was raised from friends in the party and by selling peerages. After keen negotiation with Frank Lloyd, Edward Lloyd's son, the "Chronicle" was sold for £1.6m. The Lloyd valuation of the business ("Chronicle", "Lloyd’s Weekly" plus book and magazine publishing) was £1.1m. To be paid nearly half as much again was an offer too good for Lloyd's heirs to refuse. Donald and Maurice had been kept in the dark until the day before the takeover took effect, raising some doubts about Frank Lloyd's loyalty to his employees. The descent of one of the few truly independent newspapers into political ownership was deplored at the time and has some shock value to this day. Edward Lloyd's enthusiastic embrace of new technology did much to drive the efficiency of newspaper production forward for half a century. He also understood the importance of advertising in the Fleet Street economy and devised several ingenious promotional schemes. From useful gadgets, like speaking tubes between rooms in his offices, to vast costly machines producing thousands of papers and miles of newsprint every day, Lloyd made it his business to research and understand anything of potential interest. His two epoch-changing innovations were use of Hoe's rotary printing presses and the harvesting of esparto grass for paper-making. When "Lloyd’s Weekly"’s circulation was soaring in the 1850s, greater speed was urgently needed. Lloyd heard of the rotary press developed by Richard Hoe in New York that would multiply the speed of his existing presses. He went to Paris immediately to inspect the only specimen in Europe. He ordered one to be delivered to London without delay, and then a second. Hoe conquered his reluctance to sell both at half price – a risk that was amply rewarded by the 12 orders from other London papers that soon followed. This was a happy decision for Lloyd.