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CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMITTEE.

Lord EUSTACE PERCY, M.P.

Lieut.-Colonel G. DALRYMPLE WHITE.

Captain C. T. FOXCROFT.

Sir MARK STURGIS, K.C.B.

The Rt. Hon. Sir HENRY WYNNE, LL.D.
Lieut.-Colonel E. T. CRUTCHLEY, O.B.E.
Major A. REID JAMIESON, Secretary.

TERMS OF REFERENCE.

"To recommend to the Secretary of State for the Colonies what grants or loans should be made to refugees from the Irish Free State or from Northern Ireland and what advances should be made to persons having claims against the British or Irish Free State Governments under the Criminal and Malicious Injuries Acts or other legislation for the time being in force in Ireland and to advise the Secretary of State generally upon the position of such persons."

The cost of the printing and publication of this Report is estimated by the Stationery Office at £3 7s. 6d.

THE IRISH GRANTS COMMITTEE,

2, QUEEN ANNE'S GATE BUILDINGS,

LONDON, S.W.1.

January 16th, 1924.

HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, K.G., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., Secretary of State for the Colonies.

YOUR GRACE,

The Irish Distress Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Samuel Hoare, had the honour to present to Your Grace's predecessor, Mr. Churchill, a report on the procedure adopted and the work accomplished by the Committee up to October 14th, 1922. Since that date we have made no formal report and it may be well to submit an account of our proceedings from October 16th, 1922, to December 31st, 1923.

You appointed Lord Eustace Percy as our Chairman in succession to Sir Samuel Hoare on November 22nd, 1922, and we continued our work on the lines set out in our previous report until March 23rd last. On that date we were reconstituted as the Irish Grants Committee and were entrusted, in addition to our previous functions, with the duty of recommending with the consent and co-operation of the Treasury the payment of advances against decrees or well-founded claims to compensation under the Criminal Injuries Acts and the Irish Free State Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, a duty which had previously been discharged by the Colonial Office (Irish Branch). Since then our powers have been extended in various directions and our present terms of reference are as set out on the foregoing page.

Colonel Dalrymple-White and Captain C. T. Foxcroft were appointed members of our Committee in June, 1923.

As our reconstitution nearly coincided with the commencement of the financial year 1923-4, our work during this financial year may be conveniently separated from the previous period.

As the Irish Distress Committee we dealt with 7,500 applications, of which 5,600 were applications for immediate assistance. Of this latter number we approved 4,330 and made Grants or Loans to the following amounts up to the close of the financial year 1922-23 —

Grants
Loans

:

£ s. d.

13,501 16 3
10,422 9 3

Of the loans £5,085 19s. 3d. was repaid within the financial year and £11,587 9s. 10d., representing the Committee's expenditure on grants to refugees for the period up to February 22nd, 1923, was refunded by the Irish Free State Government.

During the same period the Colonial Office (Irish Branch) made advances to compensation claimants to a total of £52,256.

In the current financial year up to December 31st, 1923, the Committee have dealt with 6,621 applications, of which 3,921 were for the grant of financial assistance and have made the following grants loans and advances in 2,037 cases :

Of the loans made to refugees £1,354 19s. 9d. has been repaid during this period and of the advances against compensation decrees or claims £21,600 has been credited by the Free State Government to the British Treasury, on the payment of the decrees or claims. In addition we have advanced £12,265 to persons having claims for arrears of rent recoverable under the Land Purchase Act, 1923. A claim for £12,048 Is. 11d. representing the Committee's expenditure in grants to refugees from February 23rd to December 1st, 1923, has been submitted to the Free State Government.

Our experience has convinced us that the provision made by His Majesty's Government under these various heads, for the assistance of those who have suffered from the disturbances in Ireland, must be continued for a further period. Some time must elapse before many persons who have been obliged to leave Ireland can either safely return there or can finally resettle themselves elsewhere, and, while pre-truce claims for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Acts are now being rapidly disposed of by the Compensation (Ireland) Commission, the adjudication of post-truce claims under the Irish Free State Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923, has been barely begun. We are impressed by the many cases of hardship and suffering which continue to come to our notice and we therefore have no hesitation in recommending that His Majesty's Government should continue the measures now in force for at least another year.

At the same time, we should consider it most undesirable that our Committee should be regarded as in any sense a permanent body and we have therefore devoted a good deal of attention to the task of final resettlement. Wherever suitable we have endeavoured, in the relief branch of our work, to give final resettlement grants rather than continue small periodical payments for current living expenses. We have in this way resettled a considerable number of refugees in this country and we have been able to arrange for the emigration of others to the Dominions. There remain, however, a considerable number of cases with which we have not yet been able to deal in this way, whether

because the refugee has been unable to find suitable employment or because he needs a large capital sum for investment in a business or because he is prevented by age or infirmity from making a new start in life. If the Committee is to be in a position to wind up its relief work within a reasonable period we think we should be authorised to deal with cases of age or infirmity by the purchase of an annuity and also to make substantial capital advances in certain other cases. In this latter category we have especially in mind such persons as farmers who, in all probability, will be unable to return to Ireland and whose only chance of resettlement is the purchase of a farm in this country. We have, indeed, power to give assistance of this kind and in one or two exceptional cases we have actually done so, but we have been limited by the money at our disposal. It must be remembered that, owing to the somewhat peculiar provisions of Irish law on this subject, there are large categories of damage in respect of which the sufferer has never had any legal claim against the Government or the Local Authority. This state of the law has given rise to many anomalies and, in a number of cases, has caused hardship of a kind which, we feel, cannot be ignored. We, therefore, recommend that the desirability of making final grants or loans and providing annuities should be taken into account in framing estimates for the coming financial year.

In regard to the other main branch of our work, namely, assistance to persons having claims against the British or Free State Government, we can only recommend that the present system of making advances against such claims should be continued. In the case of pre-truce claims for damage to property we understand that the Compensation (Ireland) Commission hopes to be able to conclude its labours in the near future, and we trust that the payment of its awards will be completed as rapidly as possible. In regard to the post-truce claims we can only express the hope that the Free State Courts will be able to undertake and complete the hearing of these claims as rapidly as is compatible with full and fair investigation. Pre-truce claims for malicious injury to the person have, for the most part, been finally settled and we hope that existing arrangements for the adjudication and payment of post-truce claims will render possible a similar final settlement at an early date. Operations under the Irish Land Act, 1923, will, we hope, soon relieve the hardships of the class of persons to whom we have been making advances against arrears of rent. We trust that the outstanding claims of Government servants and local officials in respect of loss of office or retirement or loss of personal property will be quickly disposed of.

We cannot conclude our report without expressing our high appreciation of our Secretary's services during the past two years. The organisation and efficient administration of our work has been from the beginning a very difficult task and we believe that our opinion of Major Reid Jamieson's ability, tact and courtesy is shared by everyone of the many hundreds of persons who have applied to us for assist

ance.

If our work has been in any way successful the credit is mainly