67 / 132
DEC., 1908]
The Gazette of the incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
59
separate sheet of paper, and there might be
some objection to that.
MR. ROONEY : There is not.
MR. BYRNE : If you send out two papers,
it is open to the same objection. He (Mr.
Byrne) thought everything should be done
above board. If that was done, they would put
men on the Council who would attend and use
their energies in fighting the cause of the
general body of the profession.
MR. SEDDALL said the Ballot Act only
applied to Parliamentary elections, and was
extended to apply to Municipal elections.
It
did not apply to the erection of the Council of
the Society, and he failed to see how it could
apply in fact. As regards Parliamentary and
Municipal elections, the constituencies were
flooded with literature, describing the quali
fications of candidates. He submitted that
the present system of sending out the voting
papers for the election of Council was obviously
the correct one.
MR. JAMES BRADY thought there was
nothing whatever in Mr. Rooney's objection
to the present system. He believed if it was
introduced all round they would have a better
class of public representatives returned than at
present (laughter and hear, hear).
MR. ROONEY, in a general reply, con
tended that there was no power to put any
further information in the voting paper sent
out than was contained in the Ballot Act.
The voter should not be influenced at the poll.
The motion was rejected.
By leave of the meeting, MR. STANUELL
leferred to the subject of better facilities being
given for the transfer of Government Stocks,
and in doing so said that, arising out of the
Report, he wished to refer to a weak spot con
nected with the funds required for land pur
chase. He alluded to the low value of Consols
and other Government securities in the money
market.
So long as the Government had to
issue ,£115 of Stock toget^ioo cash, land
purchase must continue to be blocked.
He
could best deal with the subject by an illustra
tion or comparison. The French paid interest
upon their national debt at 3 per cent., and
the British upon theirs practically at 2-A- per
cent. The difference of a half per cent, in the
rate of interest was due to the better security
of the British funds, owing to the fact that the
French had a much larger national debt—
^1,000,000,000 against our ^750,000,000—
so that they owed
the enormous sum of
^250,000,000 more than we did, while in
addition the population of France was smaller,
38,000,000 against our 42,000,000, and as to
financial resources, in trades, industries, manu
factures, and commerce the French were far
behind.
It seemed to be taken for granted that
under these circumstances the British funds
were higher in the market than the French, but
this was not the case. The French funds stood
at 96 ; Consols slightly below 85—11 points in
the 100 in favour of France. As the security
was the better, this could only be due to the
unpopularity of the stock in the market, due to
some defect; and he held that the undoubted
unpopularity of Consols and Land Stock, par
ticularly with humble investors, so numerous
in France, was due to the bad system of dealing
with them laid down by Government.
It was
full of difficulties, delays, and expense. The
purchaser got no certificate for his investment,
and every sale, purchase, ^or transfer required
either personal appearance at the head office
of the Bank of Ireland or else a power of
attorney with a ten-shilling stamp, and various
irritating formalities which caused expense, and
none of which profited either vendor or pur
chaser.
The great public companies had
abolished the antiquated, archaic system still
used by the Government. They did so because
they found ' the old system had a bad effect
upon the value of their securities. He con
sidered it lowered the value of Government
securities by about ten per cent.
They should
be level with the French, and, if so, land pur
chase could go forward merrily. The Asso*
ciated Chambers of Commerce at Cardiff in
September passed a resolution on the subject,
and he (Mr. Stanuell) thought they should
pass one in similar terms, and ask their friends
and allies
the Northern and Southern Law
Societies to do
the same, and
invite the
Chambers of Commerce of Belfast, Cork, and
Dublin.
He moved—"That, with the object of im
proving the value of Consols, Land Stock, and
other Government securities in the market, and
thus aiding land purchase, the Government be
requested to give greater facilities for their
transfer by adopting the methods of transfer
common to public companies generally."
MR. J. L. SCALLAN seconded, and said
the motion would direct public attention to a
great anomaly in the machinery which regu
lated the payment of dividends and the transfer
of Government Stocks. It was a most remark
able
fact that the premier security of the
country when they came to deal with it as a