4 JANUARY 1975, Page 3

Defence economies

Sir: In its zeal for economy the Government would do well to make drastic cuts in the 112,000 civil servants in the Ministry of Defence. It is ludicrous to suppose that anything like that number is required to administer 364,000 forces personnel. In 1938 the service departments had just under 40,000 civil servants for about 420,000 service personnel, .

W. Waddington 98 Maylebone High St., London WI