The Gazette 1917-18

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.

DECEMBER, 1917]

49

the Bill, should be performed by the Clerks of the County and Borough Councils, and i that the Councils should pay to such officers Increased Salaries for their care and attention in the per formance of these duties ; but, in the application to Ireland, the Bill provided that the Clerks of the Crown and Peace should be the Registration Officers. The County Council were directed to pay the expenses of such officers, who were not, however, to make any charge for the additional trouble, care and attention which were imposed on them as Registration Officers. While this Council were of opinion that the Clerk of the Crown and Peace was the best qualified officer to perform the duties in question (which were of a semi-legal character), they were Also of Opinion that he should receive remuneration for the additional duties in addition to his fixed salary of office. A resolution to this effect was sent to the various Members whose names appeared on the Bill, and all Members of Parliament for Ireland, and we are glad to say that in Committee on the Bill an amendment was inserted allowing the Treasury to increase the salary of the Clerk of the Crown and Peace, having regard to his additional duties. The question of Judges Measuring Costs against the desire of the party to whom the costs were payable, and in the absence of any special circumstances, had been pressed very strongly by the Council, and they were glad to observe that in a recent case in which the Lord Chief Justice was requested by the party who had been directed to pay the cost of a motion, to measure same, his lordship declined to do so, and stated that unless the party to whom the costs are payable makes the request, the costs of motions should be under the scale fixed by the rules, subject to taxation. This measuring of costs has worked a great

late member of that Council, and one who had in the short time he was with them given the benefit of his ripe experience, particularly on questions of practice, and had been very helpful and worked very hard on the various Committees on which he acted. Prime Minister and Attorney-General. This year was remarkable in the Solicitors' profession, owing to the fact that Mr. Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of England, and the Right Honourable James O'Connor, K.C., Attorney-General for Ireland, were the first Solicitors who have been appointed to these offices. The Irish Convention. It was thought at one time that the Irish Convention might require the use of that hall and of certain of the rooms adjoining for the purposes of their meetings, and Lord Southborough (then Sir Francis Hopwood) inspected the buildings, but, as they knew, the offer of the buildings in Trinity College was ultimately accepted. The Council earnestly hoped that the deliberations of the Convention might result in the production of a scheme for the future government of Ireland generally acceptable and to the advantage and welfare of this country in which they were .all so vitally interested. As to the work done by the Council during the year, they had to consider numerous new Bills, Acts, and Rules to be made thereunder, including " The Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act," " The Repre sentation of the People Bill," " The Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest Act," and " The Courts (Emergency Powers) Acts, 1917." As regards " The Representation of the People Bill," a very important point as regards Solicitors, and particularly country Solicitors, was raised by the Bill as originally drafted. As far as England was concerned, it was pro vided that the duties of the office of Registration Officer, which was created by