The Gazette 1973

street was estopped from raising the argument that the original resolution sanctioning the work was ultra vires. The Notice served contained a notice informing the Defendant of his Statutory Right of Appeal but he did nothing. Mr. Smyth went also on to say that the De- fendants were also bound by a letter received from their Solicitors dated 8th April, 1970 in which they stated that the expenditure on meeting the Fire Officer's requirement would not be justified. I reject this portion of his argument in the light of the decision in Bord na gCon v. Thomas Murphy, Vol. 105 I.L.T.R., page 77, as no evidence was given in it that the Solicitors acted as Agents for the Defendants. There is also an Irish case of the County Council of Cork and Sylvester O. Cotter v. Carde (1963) Irish Reports, 159 in which Mr. Justice Henchy held on Appeal from the Circuit Court that the Defendants who contended that a rate struck was bad on its face because it did not comply with the statutory require- ment in not describing the Defendants sufficiently were estopped from raising this defence because they had not appealed against the rate itself. In the light of this decision and the Scottish decision and the fact that Defendants did not appeal to the District Court as they were entitled, from the requirements of the Notice and that in fact they are now adopting a different attitude to that adopted by them in their application for an extension of time to appeal, I hold that they are now estopped from denying that they are proprietors. The definition of "Proprietor" has also to be dealt with. I have searched in vain through the Public Health Acts, Town Improvements Act and similar legislation for a definition. Of course there is no defini- tion of the word in the Fire Brigades Act. There are S.I. No. 47 of 1973 Solicitors Act 1954 (Apprenticeship and Education) (Amendment) Regulations 1973 (S.I. No. 47, 1973) The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland in exercise of the powers conferred on them by Sections 4, 5 and 40 of the Solicitors Act 1954 hereby make the following regulations. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Solicitors Act 1954 (Apprenticeship and Education) (Amendment) Regulations 1973 and shall be read together with the Solicitors Act 1924 (Apprenticeship and Education) Regulations 1955 (S.I. No. 217 of 1955) (hereinafter called "the Principal Regulations) and subsequent amending Regulations. (2) These Regulations shall come into operation on 8th February 1973. (3) Paragraph 10 of the Principal Regulations as amended by the Solicitors Act 1954 (Apprenticeship

definitions of Proprietors in the Small Dwellings Ac- quisition Act, 1899, Section 10 (3) and in the Hotel Proprietors Act, 1963 but in neither case do the defini- tions help. I hope that the Legislature will see fit to close this gap and define "Proprietor" in some future piece of legislation. In the case of Devlin v. Conion (1920) quoted by Mr. Humphries the questions of whe- ther a proprietor or occupier should be liable for illicit distilling by a trespasser on lands and whether a pro- prietor or occupier should be punished for the sins of an unknown offender arose but in my opinion the decision turned on the question of occupation or pro- prietorship. Mr. Humphries went on to say that pro- prietor means occupier. There is not a definition of occupier in the Fire Brigades Act but I find that the word is used in another Section of the Act which relates to payment of fees to Fire Brigades acting out- side their district—Sub-Section 2(a) of Section 4—so the Act itself appears to distinguish between occupier and proprietor. In the absence of a definition in the Act I must follow the natural, obvious and popular meaning of the word. I must take the word in its ordinary sense. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines Proprietor as Owner and on the evidence of Mr. O'Brien there is no doubt but that the Defendants are the owners and consequently I hold that the Defendants are Pro- prietors within the meaning of the Fire Brigades Act, 1940. Accordingly I am going to convict for a contraven- tion of the Notice. (Decision of Justice Delap given at Dun Laoghaire District Court on 6th January, 1972.) and Education) (Amendment) regulations 1969 (S.I. No. 110 of 1969) is hereby deleted and the following paragraph is substituted therefor. (10) The subjects at the preliminary examination shall be as follows : Compulsory: English, Mathematics and Latin. Optional: Any three subjects from History, Geog- raphy, Greek, a modern language (other than Irish) approved by the Court of Examiners, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Commerce (which is comprised of four sections namely Economics, Business Organisation, Accountancy and Economic History of which the candidate will take one section only). Signed on behalf of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland this 8th day of February 1973. T HOMAS V . O ' CONNOR (President).

TRUSTEE SECURITY An account with the Dublin Savings Bank has Trustee Security under section 1 (J) (XII) of the Trustee Act 1893 as amended and by the Trustee (Authorised Investments) Act 1958. DUBLIN SAV I NGS B ANK - S a fe and Sound Head Office: LOWER ABBEY STREET, DUBLIN 1. Telephone: 42607. Branches: THOMAS STREET, PHIBSBORO, DUN LAOGHAIRE, RATMINES, BALLYFERMOT, FAIRVIEW. 91