21 MAY 1932, Page 24

IRELAND SINCE 1922 By J. M. Hone

Mr. J. M. Hone is already known as a literary critic with a keen sense of irony and as an authority on the philosophy of Berkeley. He proves in this pamphlet Ireland since 1022, " Criterion Miscellany "—No. 39. (Faber and Faber. Is.) to be a friendly but shrewd critic of his own country's political complaints. He appreciates the remarkable progress shown in the Irish Free State, but he is not misled by catcheries or confused thinking. Realizing that a country cannot be truly free which persecutes thought and opinion, he is a stern oppon- ent of the secretive censorship of literature.