The Gazette 1940-44

The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland

June,

1941]

same month we lost Mr. James W. Hanrahan, who had been for fifty-seven years Clerk of the Crown and Peace for County Fermanagh and was admitted a Solicitor so far back as 1873. In February we lost Mr. Robert H. Carson, Chief Crown Solicitor for Northern Ireland; he had been Sessional Crown Solicitor for Co. Tyrone from the year 1905 to 1922 and Crown and Sessional Solicitor from 1922 to 1929, and from 1929 he was Chief Crown Solicitor for Northern Ireland. In the same month we lost Mr. Hunt Walsh Leech, who was admitted so far back as 1869. Other respected members of our profession have also passed away. The number of members of the Society at present is 842, an increase, I am glad to say, as against the number of members last November, when an increase on the previous year from 794 to 835 was reported. We are glad to note that the Society is holding its own particularly so in this centenary year of the Society. The Society, I need hardly point out to you, knows no boundary save Fair Head in Antrim and Mizen Head in Cork, and has no politics. As you are all aware, on the 17th June next, the Society will have attained the one hundredth anniversary of its existence. It has been referred to a Committee to report as to how most suitably the event can be celebrated by .the Council. I am free to tell you that the Committee has met and gone into this question most carefully; their report will in due course come before the Council, and, if confirmed, the purport of it will be circulated. As regards the present position and pros– pects of our profession, I wish I could speak more hopefully. \Vith a serious curtailment of litigation due to the petrol shortage, the curtailment of Land Purchase and the war conditions now prevailing, I am afraid that the position is not a hopeful one, and parents and guardians of intending apprentices have to face the fact that the apprentices are heading for an overcrowded profession. It has been stated that the examinations for the Final have been made more stringent than formerly, and criticism of the Exam– iners' methods have been made. These criticisms are best answered by the fact that at the Final Examination held since our last Half-yearly General Meeting thirty- nine new Solicitors .have been let loose. This number constituted 70 per cent, of those who sat for the examination. It is to

be regretted that for three years in succession ending in 1940, the Findlater Scholarship could not be awarded, the required standard not having been reached, and I am sorry to say that the position of 1941 will not be any better. There is one other matter I would wish to refer to. When the Courts of Justice Act was passed it was understood that the appointment of District Justices would be divided fifty-fifty between Counsel and Solicitors. For some years past that has not been followed, but I am glad to say that the last appointment was that of a Solicitor. We can only hope that a gentleman's agree– ment of 1924 will be observed for the future. The Solicitors' Bill, 1940, has been before the Council on several occasions. The draft of the Bill has been circulated to the different Sessional Bar Associations throughout Eire, and the views of their members have been obtained and received careful consideration, and we hope in the near future to be in a position to liold a General Meeting of the Society to consider the Bill. OBITUARY. MR. WILLIAM J. BRADLEY, Solicitor, Bangor, died on 9th May, 1941, at Ards District Hospital. Mr. Bradley served his apprenticeship with the late Mr. George Alien, Belfast, was admitted in Trinity Sittings, 1909, and practised in Bangor. MR. WILLIAM J. M. COULTER, Solicitor, died at his residence, 22 Highfield Road, Rathgar, Dublin, on 31st May, 1941. Mr. Coulter served his apprenticeship to the late Mr. Henry J. McCormick, Dublin, was admitted in Michaelmas Sittings, 1911, and practised at 30 Upper Merrion Street, under the style of Norris, Goddard and Davidson. Frederick been appointed an Assistant Justice of the Dis– trict Court. Mr. Mangan was admitted a solicitor in 1933, engaged in private practice in Dublin, and was later appointed an Examiner of Title in the Land Commission. ALL Communications connected with THE GAZETTE (other than advertisements) should be addressed to the Secretary of the Society, Solicitors' Buildings, Four Courts, Dublin. N.W.8. J. Mangan has LEGAL APPOINTMENT. Mr.