Smaller and Better Services
The Estimates which have now appeared for each of the Services confirm, as they were bound to do, the impression given by last week's Statement on Defence, that the general tendency in the size of the forces is downwards and the general tendency in their effectiveness is upwards. But the movement in the size of the forces is by no means uniform. In the Navy, as usual, changes are relatively small and unspectacular. A reduction in numbers from 167,300 to 153,000 is accompanied by an increase in pay and allowances of L3,487,00o. It is worth while noticing that at the same time dockyard wages are due to go up by £3,000,000—an indication that the civilians employed by the Navy are not being left behind in the movement towards higher pay. A similar development is noticeable in the Army Estimates. The drop in the number of officers and men in the coming year is to be so heavy—from 850,000 in 1948-49 to 550,000 in 1949-50—that there is actually a small reduction in the total estimate for pay, but in the case of civilians employed there is to be an increase of £7,338,000. This new relationship is not necessarily a bad thing. The post-war tendency to maintain large numbers of technical specialists in the forces at the expense of fighting efficiency had to be reversed sooner or later. The emphasis is now on striking power. Half the supple- mentary Estimate of £15,500,000 for the Navy for the current year is required to improve the state of readiness of the Fleet. The memorandum accompanying the Army Estimates makes it clear that less and less use can now be made of existing stocks of weapons and material, and more and more expenditure will have to be made on newer and better types. In the R.A.F. the efficiency which has been demonstrated in the Berlin air lift is to be maintained and increased with better aircraft. These things represent a true economy— the more effective use of limited resources. If it ever becomes neces- sary to expand the forces, then it is more likely than it was a year ago that the central core will be hard and reliable.
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