" TRUST THE PRIME MINISTER"
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIB,—In your " Letters to the Editor " of October 8th, T. Didymus, referring to disarmament states, "British, expenditure on armaments is far and away the largest in. Europe, and second largest in the world." I have not got
the statistics to refer to, but I should like to challenge the accuracy of his statement ; in any case, he conveys quite a wrong impression when he implies that Great Britain is a militarist state.
He does not mention that the Continental Armies and Navies are manned by conscripts at -a very snail rate of pay, and their rations, &c., are on a much less generous scale. Their officers also receive much less than ours. In addition we have the largest Colonial Empire in the world, and an almost entirely dependent on the sea-borne supplies for our very existence. It may be noted, too, that the United States, the home of Peace Pacts and Disarmament proposals, has the largest Navy and largest expenditure on armaments in the world. This is in spite of the fact that the U.S. an practically self-supporting for food and raw materials.—I am,
Major, Royal Marines (retired). Tower House, Southsea.
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