28 FEBRUARY 1931, Page 3

We can well believe that there have been deplorable occurrences.

When the patience of the police is strained to the breaking point such things happen. Riots are a kind of war. The Times correspondent describes the police as standing their ground with astonishing restraint while they are insulted by the demonstrators and pelted with stones and filth out of the gutters. If the Govern- ment should seem to sacrifice the police for political convenience, they would undoubtedly demoralize them. The police would feel that they had been betrayed and their discipline would crumble. This is not to say, however, that there should not be proper inquiries into honest accusations. Ample provision is already made by the law for such inquiries.