IRELAND AND THE COMMONWEALTH
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In his letter in your last week's issue Sir Henry Page Croft says that under the new Constitution, " British subjects who are resident in the Free State will no longer be guaranteed their fundamental rights at common law, including the most fundamental of all civil safeguards—the right to a writ of habeas corpus."
May, I „point out that this is not at all unprecedented in Ireland,? In Northern Ireland, the Home Minister may delegate to any police officer unlimited powers of search and seizure ; he may keep men in prison indefinitely, without trial and with complete suspension of habeas corpus ; the trial may be held in camera ; visitors, either friends or legal advisers, may be forbidden the prisoner ; the death penalty may be imposed for offences other than murder and treason, and after a prisoner's death in confinement, access by his friends or a trial, being denied, an ordinary police officer may direct that no coroner's inquest shall be held.
These enactments are an integral part of Northern Irish Law, and if Sir Henry is really as concerned as he sounds abont the rights of democracy, may I suggest that he should prevail on his Ulster friends to put their house in order before starting to attack legislation in one of our self-governing
25 Craven Street, W.C. 2-.
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