10 FEBRUARY 1939, Page 2

Compensatiqn for War Damage Some omissions in the Government's scheme

for com- pensating property-owners for war damage are dealt with by the Lord Chancellor's Committee which has been consider- ing the legal rights and liabilities of such people. The issues involved are far-reaching, and go beyond any immediate question of the individual's loss and inconvenience. The ieee of a building contracts to render up the property at a fiNed date to a lessor in its original state. War may deprive him not only of the use of the building but also of the means to restore it if it is destroyed, yet the lessor may have further commitments dependent on the value of the lease, and the a,sets of banks and building societies are to a large extent in buildings. The Committee recommend, therefore, that lessor and lessee should be released from such obligations, since the facilities for insurance, on which presumably they were relying when they entered into the commitments, have now disappeared. This is obvious justice.