CLAIMS ON BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 31, 31 October 1932, Page 9

CLAIMS ON BRITAIN

Anglo-Irish Conference WHITE PAPER ISSUED Share in Assets of Old Kingdom £400,000,000 MENTIONED (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.’ (Rec Oct. 30, 7.20 p.m.) London, Oct. 29. Details of the recent Anglo-Irish Conference are revealed in a White Paper. Mr. de Valera claimed that the Irish Free State was entitled to share in the United Kingdom’s Road Fund. The British Government agreed, but a dispute has arisen in regard to the aportionment, which the Free State claimed had been unfair, and should be retrospectively revised. The Treasury regarded this as inadmissable, but both sides agreed to submit the question to the arbitration of Sir Henry Strakosch.

The Free State claimed compensation in respect to loss consequent on Britain abandoning the gold standard. The British reply was that the abandonment involved no loss to the Free State but rather a profit. In any case the matter was a domestic one and no claim could be admitted. Recoupment for over-taxation since the Union and a share of assets of the former United Kingdom will also be claimed by the Free State. It is understood the amount involved is £4OO millions. The British reply was that it was Impossible to establish any clear proof that Ireland was over-taxed since the date of the Union up to the present. The Free State sought to avoid the payment of pensions to the Royal Irish Constabulary and Civil Servants and judges employed in Ireland before the creation of the Free State, and argued that the Royal Irish Constabulary was an occupying force hostile to the national aspirations and the Irish people. The British reply was that the question of the Royal Irish Constabulary was settled by the financial agreements of 1923 and 1926. The Free State took over the functions of the police along with other governmental responsibilities, consequently the cost of the pensions was a normal part of the responsibilities which any Government would expect to bear. As regards the civil and judicial pensions, the general principle was that the various departments were handed over as going concerns with assets and liabilities attached.' A share of the assets of the Post Office Savings Bank held against dormant accounts located in Ireland was another Free State claim. The British reply was that it was not possible to agree to the transfer of any part of the balances without the consent of depositors or their legal representatives. As regards the annuities, the White Paper discloses nothing new except an insistence by the Free State that the 190.3 Financial Agreement was not submitted to ratification. The British reply was that according to recognised practice among the nations the meats of 1923 and 1926 were> bindtag unless It was expressly stated that they would be subject to ratification. No such statement was made in the agreement, which ■ as signed by Mimsteis on each side. PRINCE’S BELFAST VISIT Sinn Fein Protest Meetings (Rec. October 30, 6.30 p.m.) Dublin, Oct. 29. The Sinn Fein’ organisation announces that it is arranging protest meetings, which will he addressed y prominent Republicans, at Dublin, Belfast, and elsewhere against the visit of the Prince of Wales to Belfast.