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The Gazette of (he Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
[DECEMBER, 191i
said :—I wish to refer to the fact that seven
gentlemen, who were members of this Council
for a great number of years, do not present
themselves for re-election. Everyone of these
gentlemen is a great and serious loss to the
Council (hear, hear). They are Mr. Thomas
Franks, Mr. William Fry, Sir George Roche,
Sir John P. Lynch, Mr. Lyster, Mr. Meredith,
and Mr. Bland, each of whom, save one, has
acted in the position of President of your
Society.
The great experience, the calm
deliberations, and wise counsel of these men,
who have taken such an active part in the
interests of the profession must be a serious
loss. However, when pressed to remain upon
the Council, their unanimous decision was,
that they thought that they had done their
part of the work, and it should devolve upon
younger men to take it up ; and I am glad to
see so many influential, active and energetic
men have been chosen to replace those friends
of our profession who have not sought to be
re-elected. As to the report which has been
circulated, you will see, although there is an
increase in the membership of the Society, it
is not sufficient as compared with the number
of practising Solicitors on the Roll, and in
these days of combination and Trades Unions
it is of the utmost necessity that all Solicitors
practising in Ireland should become members
of the Society. See what powerful influences
Trade Unions have, see the powerful influence
of the Medical Association in dealing with
what they consider the unfair provisions of
the Insurance Act.
The architects,
the
accountants, the engineers, and all other
professions to a man almost have the members
of their profession as members of their Society.
There is entirely too much apathy about the
Solicitors' profession. The inroads that are
attempted to be made upon it, and which
sometimes succeed, demand a strong phalanx
to repel them, and it is by every member of
the profession joining the Society that they
will be able to withstand ungenerous and
unjust attacks.
I therefore ask my brethren
who have not joined to do so without delay
(hear, hear).
County Court practice
in
Ireland is an important matter, and I am
glad to be able to say that my promise to the
Society last May, that I would press on the
matter, has been fulfilled, for we have sent
to the Lord Chancellor our observations upon
the County Court Judges' suggested amend
ments of the existing law, and upon their
suggested amendments of our Bill which seeks
to amend the existing law. He will submit
them to the Chief Secretary, who will then
consider the propriety of making the Bill a
Government measure. The Coroners Inquests
(Railway Fatalities) Bill, 1912, which sought
to allow unqualified persons,
instead of
qualified Solicitors, to act at inquests, is an
instance of the inroads sought to be made on
our profession.
I highly approve of working-
men having legal rights to combine together
for the well-being of their trades union and
make rules for themselves, which rules include
not allowing
their members
to work
in
common with men who are non-union men ;
but
I protest
that
their unions should
" practice what they preach " (hear, hear),
and not seek to act as Solicitors unless they
become Solicitors. We should get protection
in these matters from Parliament. We pay
heavy fees to become Solicitors, spend years
in study, and pass examinations of a very
severe nature in classics and law. We pay a
heavy annual tax called certificate duty.
Nearly all the money goes for the upkeep of
the nation, and we will ever struggle against,
what I may call by the common but expres
sive name of " blackleg labour ; " and I again
urge upon the profession the necessity of
every member joining to assist us in our
determination. I am happy to say that owing
to our action the County Court printed.lists
of Sessions and business is again issued and
arrangement made for the expenses of same.
The Bankruptcy Bill, which would have
enabled traders in other countries to be
adjudicated by the London Courts and the
investigating of the cases carried on there,
will be amended at our instance, and Ireland
will be excluded from the operation of the
Act (hear, hear).
I cannot pass from this
portion of my address upon
the report
without giving the thanks of our Society to
our fellow-member of the Council, Mr. Patrick
J. Brady, M.P., who has, through his position
in Parliament rendered yeoman service to our
profession and the public (hear, hear). He
is in constant touch with your President and
Secretary, and we are thus enabled to have
early information of attacks and inroads
likely to be made upon our profession, and
thus take time by the forelock. As will be
seen from the report, your Council have been