The Gazette 1967/71

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." 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 N.I. SUPREME COURT REFORMS PROPOSED REPORT PUBLISHED

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