3 MARCH 1928, Page 2

In the House of Commons on Thursday, February 24th, the

question was raised of compensation said to be due under the Treaty of 1921 to two Irish retired civil servants. Any deliberate injustice by a Government to a subject would stir us to protest, but here we do not know enough of details on either side of the case to offer a judgment. What, however, greatly alarms us is that the claim against the Irish Executive was taken through the Courts up to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which decided for the claimants. Now the responsible Minister has said in the Dail, with the subsequent support of the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs in Parliament, that the judgment (disrespectfully termed by Mr. Blyth, " opinions expressed " by the Committee) will be thrown over and the claimants treated, not according to what the Treaty says (as interpreted by the Courts without dispute), but according to what it is alleged that the Treaty- makers meant to say. This would be an outrage upon Law, and if the Judicial Committee takes any steps in defence of its authority it will have our full support. Further, so long as the Treaty stands it will over-ride in the Courts any subsequent Irish legislation that is not consistent with it.