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New Zealand Tablet, 7 October 1920, Page 17

LYNCH LAW, IN IRELAND. Thirteen intellectuals and publicists have ■written to the London Times protesting against "militarism in Ireland.” Among the signatories are Sir Philip Gibbs, the famous war correspondent and author ; John Masefield, the distinguished poet and author; Professor Gilbert Murray, Regius Professor of Greek at the Oxford University, and celebrated dramatist and writer; H. G. Wells, the renowned novelist; and Lieutenant-Gen-eral Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough. , "There is a sort of lynch law in force,” they state. "It is applied not only to -culprits, but to villages and towns. It is a common experience for whole streets to be burnt, creameries to be destroyed, and life to be' taken in the indiscriminate reprisals by which the soldiers and police avenge the murders of constables. The Government having failed to restrain and punish the offenders, has now taken steps to prevent the civilian courts from calling attention to these things. It has issued an order forbidding coroners’ inquests in nine counties. This removes the last vestige of protection for the civilian population. If soldiers and police now set fire to a town or shoot down civilians, they will be immune from the danger of an inquiry by a court and in a hundred military directions.”