19 / 132
JUNE, 1908]
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
13
second a candidate for the Council, should
have paid his subscription on or before the
3 ist October.
The President
then
formally moved his
motion, so as
to make bye-laws 4 and 30
read as follows :
4. The Secretary shall, on or before the ist
day of July in each year, send a notice to every
member whose subscription is
in arrear, in–
forming him of the fact; and any member
whose subscription shall not be paid on or
before 313! October following shall thereupon
cease to be a member.
30. Every candidate
for election on the
Council must be a member of the Society, and
must be nominated by two members of the
Society who shall sign their nomination paper.
Such nomination paper shall contain the name
of the proposed candidate and of each of his
nominators, and shall be in the form in Schedule
A to these Rules annexed in the case of a can–
didate to be elected as an ordinary member,
and in the form in Schedule B in the case of
a candidate to be elected a provincial delegate.
Every nomination paper must reach the Secre–
tary on or before the 6th day of November,
between the hours of 11
o'clock a.m. and
4 o'clock p.m.
MR. COLL1NS, V.-P. :
I have very great
pleasure in seconding the alteration of the
bye-laws as proposed, and in doing so I think
it would be hardly fair if I omitted to say that
I hope Mr. Rooney will feel, at all events to
some extent, compensated for the intelligent
interest he took in the question of the con–
stitution of the Council (hear, hear).
It will
be remembered by those who were at
the
meeting this time twelve months, and also at
the meeting in November, that Mr. Rooney
very clearly and eloquently brought the subject
before those meetings ; and the resolution that
has been submitted to you to-day is really in
redemption of a promise, or something in the
nature of a promise or pledge, given by the
then President, Mr. William Hayes, who stated
that whilst he regretted he could not permit
the adoption of Mr. Rooney's motion at those
meetings, the matter would be taken in hand.
It has been taken in hand by the Council, who,
of course, were in no sense responsible for the
existing bye-laws, which were adopted in 1852.
At all events the present Council, who have
only been in office a few months, have gone
into the matter, with the result that candidature
for the Council is now open to every member
of the profession belonging to the Society;
and every member of the profession can be–
come a member of the Society by contributing
the small sum of ^i a year to its funds. Up
to this as you have heard a man should be
a solicitor ifor a period of seven years before
he could properly become a candidate ; but
now the day after this resolution is passed any
member of the profession who is a member of
the Society is quite competent to be nominated
for the Council.
I am sure the alterations will
meet with the approval of at all events the
younger members of the profession ; and as
they have received the approval of the Council,
we are anxious that they should be brought
forward.
MR. ROONEY: I am afraid I had very
little to do with the result achieved ; but I
think it will be a great benefit to the Society
at large that any member of the Soc.i'ety is
eligible for election to the Council. There is
just one point Is it the intention that a non-
practisingmember of the profession can become
a member of the Council ?
THE PRESIDENT : Yes, if he is a member
of the Society.
MR. ROONEY: Is it the reading of the
Charter that you have no right to interfere
with a man who has voluntarily retired from,
practice ?
THE PRESIDENT: That is so.
MR. ROONEY: It seems to be an extra–
ordinary thing that you can practically have a
Council composed of non-practising members
of the Society.
A VOICE : The voters have it in their own
hands.
THE PRESIDENT :
I don't think there is
much likelihood of that, Mr. Rooney.
The motion was passed unanimously.
The University Question.
THE PRESIDENT :
I am going to ask Mr.
Fry to move a resolution in reference to the
position of our profession as
regards the
University Question.
MR. STRITCH : We have no right to dis–
cuss a motion of which no notice has been
given.
MR. FRY: I am not going to discuss any
motion of a controversial character.
MR. STRITCH : With all due respect, I do
not think we should be rushed in this way,
although I have no doubt that what Mr. Fry is
going to say will be quite in accord with my
own opinions. But a motion should not be
sprung upon us.