27 JULY 1956, Page 15

THE CASEMENT PAPERS

Sm,—May I enlighten Mr. Rene MacColl and those readers whom the mystery of the Casement diaries still intrigues?

From a personal friend of irrefutable knowledge I gather that Ramsay Macdonald. Snowden, Ayres, Henderson. Thomas and the rest were overcome late in 1929 with a surge of sympathy — Lansburyian in its benign altruism—for all Russians and Republican Irishmen: a 'don't let's be beastly to anyone' attitude.

At Cabinet level a decision was taken to destroy a large number of incriminating docu- ments and that order was carried out. There is a strong probability, therefore, that the diaries which blackened Casement were con- sumed by the flames.—Yours faithfully,

PETER SINGLETON-GATES

38 Tregunter Road, SW10