432 / 736
that he thought agreed principles were possible, he added
he did not believe that I.C.T.U., the F.U.E., or the
F.I.I., or all three could play the leading part in actually
making a general policy for pay and dividends work ; the
I.C.T.U., he said
had neither the teeth nor the staff
for that job.
He said that as from a date to be named by the
Minister for Finance, he would like to see a new and
heavy tax—a prices stabilisation levy—imposed on both
dividends and pay.
Elaborating on this, he suggested for
the sake of
argument, a tax of los. on every £i of distributed divi
dends and of £3 a week on the pay of every employee ;
the pay-roll tax, he suggested, would be collected through
employers in the same way as the insurance stamp or
P.A.Y.E. ; there would be exemption from the tax for any
firm or other organisation which satisfied the appropriate
Minister — Labour,
in
the case of pay, Finance for
incomes.
Outlining how he thought this would operate, Professor
Fogarty said the idea of his suggested scheme was to hit
the
irresponsible
shareholder with one
tax and the
irresponsible employee with a separate one. If share
holders milked their companies, employees had reason to
fear for their jobs ; if employers pushed pay through the
ceiling and drove costs up astronomically, shareholders
had every reason to fear for their shares.
He suggested there might be a case for requiring firms
to prepare a combined plan for dividends and pay which
must have the approval both of employees and of share
holders ; the employees approval, he said, would have to
be given through machinery
to be approved by the
Department of Labour in consultation with the I.C.T.U.
JUST AND UNJUST
Professor Fogarty said that the trouble with most
measures used by Governments in the past to check
excessive pay or profit increases was that they hit the
just and unjust alike ;
in the scheme he was putting
forward only the unjust—the man with the out-of-pro-
portion increase—paid, and the tax rates could be adjusted
to make sure he ended up worse off than his more socially
responsible neighbour.
He said he knew he was asking a lot of the Government,
the unions and the employers, but the gain in view was a
vital one—an end to rising prices and interest rates, with
all the advantages which this could have for the develap-
ment of the countrv and its independence of the foreign
lender and capitalst.
PROPOSED NORTHERN IRELAND
CIVIL RIGHTS COVENANT
" 1 Recognition of the right of citizens of Nor
thern Ireland, whatever their political or religious
beliefs to free speech and freedom of peaceful
assembly, procession and demonstration without
the threat of bans and proscriptions.
" 2 Recognition of freedom of the press and of
publication to the same extent as prevails in Great
Britain.
" 3 Recognition of the right of organisations
and parties with
lawful political objects
to
organise freely and openly for their attainment.
" 4 Recognition of the right of citizens of Nor
thern Ireland to hold elected public office and
employment without having to take oaths and
political tests beyond what is required for similar
employment in Great Britain.
" 5 Recognition of the right of Northern Ireland
citizens to fair electoral boundaries and local
administrative areas impartially drawn and seen
to be so.
" 6 Recognition of the right of citizens to be
employed in either public or private employment
without discrimination on grounds of religion,
race or political belief.
" We pledge ourselves to uphold this covenant
and to work together peacefully until these de
mands are obtained."
N.I. SUPREME COURT REFORMS
PROPOSED
REPORT PUBLISHED
REFORMS OF THE Northern Ireland Supreme
Court (which comprises the High Court and the
Court of Appeal) are proposed in the report of a
committee under Lord Chief Justice MacDermott,
published yesterday
in London. They include
giving Stormont more power to legislate for the
Supreme Court, while
retaining Westminster's
main "reserved" rights under the Government of
Ireland Act, 1920."
The reforms would bring the Supreme Court
more into line with English practice, the Recom
mendations in the 150-page report include the
abolition of the present divisions of the High
Court, so that any High Court judge could be
assigned by the Chief Justice to any business on
hand. Similarly, the business of the Court of
Criminal Appeal would be transferred to the
Court of Appeal, as in England.
The report says that in
habeas corpus
cases,
appeals should be to the Court of Appeal and
thence, with leave, to the House of Lords. At
present appeals lie direct from the High Court to
the House of Lords, as in England ; the proposed
reform would
introduce another stage, within
Northern Ireland, before going to the Lords.
The report proposes a statutory definition of a
solicitor's right of audience in the High Court
where counsel is unable to appear.
The report also suggests
a
joint Northern
146