The Gazette 1940-44

[December, 1942

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland

30

He is a member of the High Court Rules Committee and during my term of office I have attended five or six meetings of this Committee. He is also expected to preside at your own Half-yearly and Yearly General Meetings, at any Special Meetings of the Society and at least two, if not more, meet ings of the Solicitors1' Apprentices' Debating Society. In addition, he is frequently called upon to interview officials in Government Offices and I have personally interviewed the Solicitor to the Revenue on two occasions in reference to questions of stamp duty. I have also seen the Estate Duty Office, and one other member of the Council has attended and discussed the position under the Land Registry Rules with the Registrar of Titles. I believe I would be very nearly accurate in saying that during the year I have presided at almost one hundred meetings of one kind or another. Even there the functions of the Society do not end. In addition to providing a Library which is available to all full members of the Society in the premises in which this meeting is being held, the Society answers numerous queries which are constantly being received by your Secretary from members who are in doubt as to some point of practice or otherwise. These letters while replied to by your Secretary if they raise any serious question are always discussed with the Presi dent and possibly some other members of the Council before your Secretary's reply is drafted. I think from this short resume of the work of the Society new members will appreciate that there is a very great deal of work done by the Council, all of it voluntary, and all of it done most cheerfully, and that although the results may not always be very apparent, the interests of the - Society are constantly watched and safeguarded. I believe if these duties and functions of the Council were more carefully realised the members of the Profession as a whole would be only too glad to stand behind the Society and join in membership. As you know, the subscription is only £1 per annum or, in the case of country members who do not desire to avail themselves of the full privileges of the Society, may be only 10/- per annum. This is a very much smaller subscription than is levied by the average Trades Union

the younger members, do not realise the amount of work that is done on their behalf by the Society, and more particularly by the Council. There are many Committees of the Council and I may mention the following :— The Finance Committee The Parliamentary Committee The Costs Committee The Gazette Committee The Circuit and District Courts Committee The Land Acts Committee The Privileges Committee as well as the Court of Examiners, and of course, the Statutory Committee. In addition to all these Committees, there are from time to time special Committees set up such as the recent Solicitors' Bill Committee. Some of these Committees meet monthly and some, of course, at longer intervals. You will see in the Report that it is stated that there were fifteen meetings of the Council and thirty meetings of Com mittees diiring the year. This does not give a true picture as it only refers to the meetings actually held up to the date when the Report was drafted over a month ago. Since then there have been two more meetings of the Council and six or seven meetings of the Committees and the total number of meetings held in this way are certainly not less than fifty-four or fifty-five in the year. To this has to be added ten meetings of the Statutory Committee, three meetings of the Joint-Bill Committee, ten or eleven meetings of the sub-Committee dealing with the Bill, the meetings held in connection with the election of a new Secretary, etc. At all these meetings your President and Vice-Presidents are ex-officio members of the Committee and attend if they can. It is the privilege of your President to preside at all of them and I am happy to say that I was able to attend and preside at every single one of the meetings (whether of the Council or Committees) held during my term of office, with the sole exception of one Finance Committee which was summoned for the same time as the High Court Rules Committee. Apart from these meetings of the Council and its Committees there are various other duties that your President has to perform.