BRITISH LABOR COMMISSION'S REPORT

New Zealand Tablet, 24 February 1921, Page 37

BRITISH LABOR COMMISSION'S REPORT

| A. London correspondent, under date -December 28, writes to an American exchange : %jjf 1%. A scathing denunciation of Government methods in Ireland and a strong expression of the future of coercive methods to suppress either the' Sinn Fein movement or the Republican army occupy for the most part the report of the Labor Commission. which recently visited Ireland to study conditions there.

Contents of the Report.

The report, which occupies 50 pages, has additional appendices giving extracts from police reports and other documents and photographs of destroyed property. It deals with all aspects of the present situation* and the sentiment in Ireland, as well as a specific study of reprisals.

It shows incidentally that all appeal to Premier Lloyd George, signed by Arthuf Henderson and William Adamson, as late as December 23, had failed to bring a response to the commission's desire to institute an "unofficial truce" so that steps toward peace might be taken. ....

Republican Army Formidable Because Intangible.

Declaring the Irish Republican army to be formidable, becauso intangible, the report says that if it were concentrated as an army it could easily be defeated, and it exists only because it has the sympathy and support of the vast mass of the population. _ "So , great has been the provocation by the Crown forces that 80 per cent: 'of Irish men and women." ■ continues the report, "now regard the shooting of policemen and the throwing of bombs at lorries with the same philosophic resignation that Mr. Lloyd George displays toward arson and pillage and the shooting of civilians in the presence of rJ their....wives and children. The' destruction of creameries; etc-;, •only serves :to stimulate recruiting by increasing the numbers ■of desperate men.".

"Stink in the Nostrils of .the World.!'

The commission says .'"a • thing'is being done in the name of Great Britain which must make her name stink in the nostril! of the whole 1 world.: The honor of our people has been gravely compromised." . ; ; • ; \ : C The commission charges:^the^Crown forces, among other things, with burning, destruction, looting;' and floggings. - The Government's Guilty Responsibility.';' ;:"./■. Regarding the Government's? responsibility for reprisals the commission states: "We do not believe the Government directly and definitely inspired reprisals and violence, but while it has perfunctorily denied certain occurrences which are beyond doubt, it has associated itself with, and defended crimes committed by, the Crown forces in Ireland. Blame for the present situation does not rest primarily with the members of the Crown forces, but with the Government." »

Among the points in the commission’s report arc the following; he “Black-and-Tans’ ” Beatings and Floggings. Bven if only a tithe of the fires which ' admittedly have occurred in many parts of Ireland during the last few months were caused by Government agents, the case against the forces of the Crown and the Government would, in our judgment, bo amply proved. There are .so many undoubted cases of looting and theft that the commission must add these crimes to those of burning and destruction. Many cases of beating and other forms of punishment came to our notice, some of which we were able to investigate. In some places there has been a good deal of flogging of the people. #|... . b Rough and brutal treatment of women is by no means the worst that has to be said 'against men in the service of _ the British Crown, No Solution by Violence and Vengeance. “Final solution of the Irish problem will not be found m a policy of violence and vengeance. It will have to be found along the lines of conciliation and consent by a more enlightened'method of negotiation.” The . report decares that in the “Black-and-Tans” and auxiliaries “the Government has created a weapon which it cannot wield, it has liberated forces which it* is not at present able to dominate.” | Silly Anti-Sinn Feirf ReportlHSlifiH tl V, . The report ridicules the official contentions that Sinn Femers themselves ‘ burned and destroyed property in towns of markedly Sinn Fein sympathies as “unreasonable and indeed stupid . . A minute ■ description is given of all the cases investigated. One interesting point is that in the -case of the Croke Park tragedy, when on November

21 numerous persons were killed or injured at a football game, the report absolves the authorities from anything in the nature of "premeditated reprisals." S 1 . : «■ -■ . « - - ■ lli*l g-| *& . Terrorised Victim. B ~-??. Sn£ 1 I

• ~ The report testifies to the difficulty of gathering information owing to the terrorism existing, eyewitnesses being threatened even with death if they divulge what they have seen. K It describes minutely the character and organisation of all the Crown forces. Dealing with the Constabulary, it says:— :y., :; ,;':;;-.-v :j l "We feel compelled to express the opinion that by no means a negligible proportion of the Royal Irish,.. Constabulary as at present constituted are men of intemperate habit, utterly unsuited to their duties." The strongest condemnation, however, is reserved for the auxiliaries, who, it is declared, "evidently enjoy special and powerful protection." • . - ■■ ;'

Reprisals Scientifically Carried Out.

It asserts that wherever reprisals have been scientifically carried out it has been almost invariably by detachments of cadet auxiliaries possessed of ability and education and inflamed by political passion, who brook no interference from; other Crown forces and do not seem to recognise even the authority of Dublin Castle. i 'r "The report voices the apprehension felt by the Labor Party in England when"it says with reference to this force: "It is a class weapon which is being forged in Ireland and could be used in England." - i