Pedigreed King

Tart-tongued Timothy Michael Healy, now retiring as Governor General of the Irish Free State (TIME Dec. 26), sat with suspicious placidness, last week, through a long farewell dinner in his honor at Dublin.

Came speechtime. At last "Tim" Healy could take his final fling. Roundly he flayed those Irishmen who disparage the King-emperor, wittily he concluded:

"I have heard much talk about 'our foreign King,' but there is one thing about this 'foreign King,' He is a gentleman and we know his pedigree. I wish we knew as much about those who talk about his 'interference' in Irish affairs.

"The English Government, in my five years in office, has never interfered to the extent of a tittle or a scintilla in any Irish matter . . . .I pledge my faith and honor upon this!"