20 JANUARY 1956, Page 7

NOW THAT the correspondence about the Casement diary has been

closed I must confess that I am not much wiser than I was when the controversy began. My suspicion is that Admiral Sir William James has the stronger case when he argues the authenticity of the diary; but equally I must admit that Pro- fessor Desmond Williams and others have asked some very awkward questions. At any rate there is one point oh which there is now no disagreement: that the mystery can easily and quickly be cleared up if the diary is produced. There is now no point in withholding it from scrutiny: Casement's reputation is, rightly or wrongly, black enough already, and there is now no reason why the authorities should not unearth this un- pleasant document and re-examine it. in the light of the ques- tions put by Professor Williams and others in recent weeks.