On this final stage of the Bill I want to place on record a certain statement, supplementary to what I said on the Second Reading of this Bill. On that occasion I referred to a certain discussion that took place which led to the reconsideration of the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the Wigg-Cochrane case. I want just now to call attention to a letter which appeared in the "Irish Times" of February 14th, 1929. The letter was signed by Mr. Alfred Dickie, K.C., who was leading counsel on behalf of the Civil Servants in the appeal that came before the Privy Council. In the course of that letter, Mr. Dickie says:—
"Sir,—In your article in today's ‘Irish Times' with reference to the Wigg-Cochrane case you state on his deathbed the late Viscount Cave, who had been chairman of the Judicial Committee, wrote a letter to the British Premier in support of Lord Birkenhead's assertion—that is to say that the Privy Council had not taken full cognisance of a certain Treasury minute. This is a statement which has got into the papers owing to observations of Lord Birkenhead in the House of Lords when he stated that ‘Lord Cave in a letter to the Prime Minister previous to his death, had admitted that there was a mistake in his judgment.' Owing to the fact that the matter was coming up for discussion before the Privy Council I did not deny this statement before, but the fact is"—and I may say in parenthesis there is good reason to believe this is a fact that could be verified by evidence—"that twenty-four hours before his death Viscount Cave made the following statement: ‘I have made no mistake. If there has been any clerical error that has nothing to do with the judgment.' Lord Birkenhead in making his statement led people to believe that Lord Cave had said that his judgment was wrong whereas the opposite was the case, and the Privy Council have since decided that his judgment was absolutely right."
There are a few further lines in the letter not á propos. My desire in reading this letter is that it should appear on the official records of proceedings of this House so that for future reference the discussions on the previous occasion and on this occasion may be read together.