6 SEPTEMBER 1924, Page 14

THE BOUNDARY PROBLEM.

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sm,—With reference to the note appended to my letter in last week's issue of the Spectator, should like to say : (1) That after a careful reading of the debates on the Treaty, I can find no evidence confirming your contention that the second part of Article 12 was intended 'to be voluntary ; (2) that no private assurances can override a Statute of Parliament ; (3) that it is for the Boundary Commission alone to decide Such questions as the unit in which " the wishes of the inhabitants " should be ascertained and the manner in which effect can best be given to those wishes. The Free State Government

have never insisted on any particular unit as the basis of a, plebiscite. They have merely insisted that the broad principle

governing the determination of the Boundary shall be " the wishes of the inhabitants." Subsidiary questions of procedure are matters for the Commission. They will, doubtless, be I guided by the manner in which similar terms of reference were carried out- in the plebiscite areas of East Prussia, Schleswig and Upper Silesia.—I am, Sir, &c., HuGiI A. MACCARTA/4,