Sir H. Greenwood was asked on Monday and Tuesday in
the House to justify certain cases of alleged " reprisals " in Ireland to which wide currency had been given by certain newspapers. He was able to show that, as we have always suspected, some of the stories were grossly exaggerated, while others were sheer fiction. Thus a Dublin paper described how a man had been flogged in the Portobello barracks, and published a photograph of his lacerated back. Yet the story, on inquiry, proved to be utterly false. There were no police in the barracks at the time, and the troops stationed there knew nothing of the matter. In another case, where some Sinn Feiners were said to have been flogged, it turned out that they were assaulting a party of police who defended themselves with their belts. It is lamentable that such stories as these should be printed in London news- papers without proper verification. The Royal Irish Con- stabulary and the troops are doing their duty bravely in face of great difficulties, and they ought to be protected from this systematic libelling at the hands of Sinn Fein propagandists.
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