The Irish Land Annuities The Irish Free State Government have
informed Mr. Thomas that the sums received from Land Annuities, hitherto set aside in separate suspense accounts in anti- cipation of arbitration, are now to be appropriated for normal use, as " no useful purpose can be served " by their further retention. Questioned in the House of Commons by Mr. Lansbury, Mr. Thomas replied that, though the offer of arbitration or negotiation remains open, the Government was not prepared to abandon the principle that arbitration must be by an Empire tribunal. In taking this view the Government is unquestionably within its legal and constitutional rights. But when Mr. Thomas says, " there are circumstances when we must not simply humiliate ourselves," he is taking his stand on a feeling of amour propre which ought not to be an obstacle to an arrangement betWeen countries ostensibly friendly. It is all to our interest to get this question of the annuities settled and out of the way—if not by an Empire tribunal, then by The Hague Court, which is better qualified than any body in the world to decide a question of treaty interpretation. * * *
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