BELGIUM AND EIRE •
Sra,—Your contributor, "Janus," in a recent issue of The Spectator, informed your readers that Belgium's defensive pre- parations, according to her Prime Minister, Mr. Pierlot, "are costing her £70,000,000 a year." The population of Belgium on December 31st, 1938, was 8,386,553. Her defence, therefore, is costing her nearly £8 75. per head of her population. A com- parison of the Belgian cost of defence with that of Eire is illuminating. On April 17th, 1940, Mr. Oscar Traynor, Minister for Defence, introduced the Army Estimate into the Dail. The gross cost of the Army, he said, was likely to be £3,409,753. This sum includes every item of expense that can possibly be charged to "Army," and covers such matters as A.R.P., Horse Shows, Military Educational Courses Abroad, the Cost of Special Courts, and a vague item called "Compensation." The popula- tion of Eke, at the time of the last census in 1936, was 2,968,240. It is now probably less than that. But, on the 1936 figures, the cost of Eirean defence to Eireans is almost Li 3s. per head of the population. Does any Eirean ever wonder why there is this extraordinary difference of £7 4s. per head of the population between the cost of defence in Belgium and that in Eire? Does he ever ask himself who bears it? And as he counts his bless- ings and the money he has in the bank, does he ever give thanks for the British Army and Navy?—Yours faithfully, •
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