§ MR. HAROLD COXI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether there is any official explanation of the fact that the British land forces, consisting in the year 1906 of 993,000 men, including 178,000 native troops in India, nearly 12,000 native troops in the Colonies, and 315,000 Volunteers and Yeomanry, cost more than £50,000,000,whereas the German Army, consisting of 4,010,000 men, cost only £32,000,000; and, if there is any such explanation, whether he will publish it at an early date.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. ACLAND,) Yorkshire, RichmondThe conditions of service of the forces of the two countries are so entirely different that no comparison of the nature suggested by my hon. friend can be made. I may add that he has not included in the German figures about £5,000,000 for pensions and a considerable sum for Colonial Military Expenditure. I may also point out that he has apparently taken his figures from two returns one of which gives the expenditure for 1904–5 and the other of which gives the numbers of men for 1906. It may interest him to know that in 1908–9 the cost of the British Forces is now considerably less than £50,000,000 while that of the German Army now considerably exceeds that figure.