23 OCTOBER 1959, Page 22

THE SINN FEIN VOTE SIR,—As an Ulsterman I was interested

in the drop in the Sinn Fein vote in Northern Ireland in the recent election and I agree with Pharos's interpre- tation up to a point.

I think another strong factor was the development of the Welfare State, which in Northern Ireland has kept in step with Great Britain.

When a family who have had all their polio shots free in the North hear that their cousins in the Republic are paying one guinea per shot, and a bottle of aureomycin to cure a child's pneumonia costs over a pound, compared to one shilling on a Health Service prescription, I do not think they will rush to vote for a party which wishes to abolish the dividing line.—Yours faithfully, 2 Clive Road, Market Drayton, Salop F. S. BLACK I