The Gazette 1967/71

Minister. There is nothing further to be said or done

on this subject at the moment.

Before I conclude I wish to express my most sincere

appreciation to Mr. Plunkett and to his assistants and

staff for all the help and support they have given me

during the past six months. This has been a particularly

difficult period for Mr. Plunkett who has to carry double

load of the affairs of the Society and the preparation for

the I.E.A. He has allowed me to draw generously on his

great experience and deep wisdom in the affairs of the

Society to which he is devoted. He has been extremely

fortunate in this pressing time to have the services of

so able an assistant as Mr. Tom Smyth who I regret

to say is about to leave us shortly to take up a new

profession in which I am sure you will want to join me

in wishing him every success and good fortune. He is

being replaced by Mr. Joe Finnegan whose abilities we

are already learning to respect. I am also grateful to the

members of the Council for their kindness and forbear

ance with me in these earlier days of my presidency and

in particular to my two Vice-Presidents, Mr. McCarron

and Mr. McGrath, without whose advice and assistance

I would find it most difficult to carry on.

Mr. Desmond Moran expressed regret at the

meagre attendance from members of the profession

other than Council members. The number of non-

Council members present was not more than five.

PROCEEDINGS UNDER THE SOLICITORS

ACTS

By order of the President of the High Court

dated 28th May 1968 the name of Edward Joseph

Barrett was struck off the Roll of Solicitors. Mr.

Barrett formerly practised in his own name at

47 Merrion Square, Dublin.

COMMISSIONERS OE CHARITABLE

DONATIONS AND BEQUESTS

BOARD MEETINGS

Easter and Trinity Terms

Tuesday

— 23

— 7

— 21

— 11

— 25

— 9

— 30

1968

STAMP DUTY

The decision in Shop and Stores Developments

Limited v Inland Revenue Commissioners (1967)

2 A.E.R. 42; (1967) 1 A.C. 472, reported in the

March issue of the

Gazette,

vol. 61, no. 9, p. 94,

indicated a neat method of acquiring property

from a limited liability company whereby a saving

of stamp duty could be effected. The vendor com

pany formed a subsidiary to which it conveyed all

the property in consideration of the allotment by

the subsidiary of fully paid shares. The right to

take up these shares, presumably on renouncable

letters of allotment, was then sold by the vendor

company to the ultimate purchaser for cash. The

Court of Appeal overruling the Commissioners

held that the shares were the only consideration

passing and duty at 10/- was accordingly payable.

A member has pointed out that this arrange

ment unfortunately is not available in Ireland in

view of differences in wording between the Irish

and English sections. Section 50 of the English

Finance Act, 1938, provides that the instrument

in order not to be stampable ad valorem must

not have been executed "in pursuance of or in

connection with an arrangement whereunder .

the consideration

for the transfer or conveyance

was to be provided .

. ." the Irish section, Finance

Act, 1952, Section 19

(1)

(b) as amended by

Finance Act, 1959, Section 76, has the words in

italics omitted. It is suggested that the effect of

this is that the scheme would not work in Ireland.

IRISH SOCIETY FOR LABOUR LAW

AND SOCIAL LEGISLATION

The annual genera] meeting of

the above

society was held on the 8th March 1968 and the

following officers and council were elected.

President, Brendan McGrath, Solicitor, C.I.E.;

Vice-President, F. O'Sullivan, Solicitor; Hon.

Secretary, J. B. McCartney, Senior Lecturer in

Law, Q.U.B.; Hon. Treasurer, Miss C. Killeen,

Solicitor, Dublin; Trustees, Messrs M. V. Doherty,

Personnel Officer, E.S.B., M Abrahamson, Solici

tor; Auditors, Messrs L. Morris, Solicitor, Belfast,

A. F. Ryan, Lecturer, College of Industrial Re

lations, Dublin; Council, Messrs M. Abrahamson,

K. Asmal, Lecturer in Law, T.C.D.; J. Casey,

Assistant Lecturer

in Law, Q.U.B.; C. Cuffe,

Solicitor, Director General,

F.U.E.; M. V.

Doherty; M. J. Downes, C.S.C.A.; N. Harris;

J. R. Heavey, S.C.; J. Temple Lang, Solicitor;

C. McCarthy; P. J. Piggott.

APPEARANCE AT PUBLIC INQUIRIES

At a public inquiry held at the Courthouse,

Dun Laoghaire, on 19th December 1967 relating

to a compulsory purchase order for road widening

and

improvement

the Corporation's

law agent

raised

the question of appearances before

the

inquiry with the inspector appointed by the De-