2 DECEMBER 1955, Page 8

A DUBLIN FRIEND tells me that the Irish Minister for

Finance, speaking at the opening of an institution for the mentally defective, urged the need for more savings so that more funds may be made available for such worthy projects. This would have pleased Jonathan Swift, who bequeathed his savings for the same purpose; the mental hospital provided by them still flourishes in Dublin; and I am afraid I cannot resist recalling what Swift said about the bequest : He left the little all he had

To found a home for fools and mad, And proved, by one satiric touch,