The Gazette 1949-1952

The Secretary read the report o f the scrutineers

o f the ballot of the Council for the year to end on

the date o f the Ordinary General Meeting in

November, 1950, which stated that for the office of

provincial delegate the following had been returned

unopposed : Ulster, Derrick M. Martin ; Munster,

John J. Dundon; Leinster, Reginald J . Nolan,

and that for the office of provincial delegate of

Connaught two candidates had been nominated,

namely, Christopher E. Callan, and Alfred V. G.

Thornton, and that the result o f the ballot was as

follows : Christopher E . Callan, 27 votes ; Alfred

V. G. Thornton, 31 votes ; and that, accordingly,

Alfred Thornton was elected provincial delegate for

Connaught, and Christopher E. Callan supplemental

provincial delegate for the same Province.

The

scrutineers further reported that the following had

been elected as the 31 ordinary members o f the

Council, having received the number o f votes placed

after their respective names: Henry St. J. Blake, 466;

Arthur Cox, 464; Daniel O’Connell, 458; L. E. O’Dea,

4 52 ; P. R. Boyd, 436 ; Joseph Barrett, 434 ; W. L.

Duggan, 431 ; Joseph Tyrrell, 430 ; Dermot Shaw,

429; P. F. O’Reilly, 423 ; W. J. Norman, 420;

J . T. Wolfe, 408; T. A . O’Reilly, 404; Sean

6 hUadhaigh, 398 ; W. S. Hayes, 485 ; J. J. Bolger,

382; W. S. Huggard, 382; John Carrigan,

377 ; Desmond Counahan, 374 ; Niall Gaffney,

369; G . A . Overend, 368; James J. O’Connor;

358 ; Roger Greene, 353 ; Gerald O’Donnell, 348 ;

J. D. O’Connell, 343 ; J . R. Quirke, 337 ; J. S.

O’Connor, 334 ; John J. Nash, 3 14 ; J. R. Halpin,

309 ; F. J. Gearty, 299 ; Desmond J. Mayne, 268 ;

with the following as the supplemental list in case of

vacancies : Peter Woods, 261 ; Cuthbert J. Furlong,

256 ; P. J. Murphy, 213.

The President, in moving the adoption o f the

Annual Report, said :

entlemen

welcome you all here to-day. The Council’s

Report has been in your hands for some time, and

it is thus only necessary to stress some of the high

lights of the year’ s work. The Report gives an ample

record of the activities o f the Council during the

last twelve months, and shows how various matters

before the Council were dealt with. It must be

remembered that there are seven or eight Sub-

Committees before which the. innumerable matters

for the consideration of the Council come in the

first place for discussion. You will appreciate, then,

that the members o f the Council have been busy

during the past year, the number o f meetings alone

of the Council and the Committees being 83.

Since our last meeting we have to mourn the

deaths of the following members o f the Society :

Francis J. Magan, Alured F. Rolleston, Henry

C. Roper, David J. Farrell, Francis J . Clohosey,

Henry Sheil, Andrew D. Cornyn, Terence Byrne,

Christopher McGonagle, Nicholas A . Byrne, Dr.

Thomas G. Quirke, James J. McCabe, Augustine

S. McBreen, John T. Hamerton, William S.

Haughey, John E. Hamerton, John A . Cullen,

Walter Beatty.

We deeply regret their deaths, and offer their

relatives our sincere sympathy.

It is fitting that I should mention specially the

name o f Dr. Quirke, by whose death the Society,

and the profession, has suffered a grievous loss.

Dr. Quirke was admitted in 1891, after a most

distinguished academic record, including the degree

of Doctor o f Laws. His name was known for many

years by older members o f the profession, who

owed much o f their success at the Society’s examina

tions to his skilled tuition. He served as a member

of the Council for almost 30 years, and was President

o f the Society in the year 1925-26. When the offices

were in Kildare Street, after our premises had been

destroyed in the fire o f 1922, he worked with out

late Secretary in rehabilitating the Society’ s records.

He retired from the Council owing to advancing

age in the year 1942, but continued to lead an active

professional life until his death at the ripe age o f 84.

During his long period on the Council, he never

spared himself in advancing the interests o f the

profession, and it is fitting that I, as President,

should pay a tribute to his memory.

As you will see from the Report, the membership

o f the Society is pretty high, but there are still some

who have not joined, and I would urge that in

these days, when results can only be achieved by

co-operation and unity, that those who are not

members should join the Society immediately.

The subscription is only

£ 1,

and for that a member

gets all the benefits o f the Society, including the

Library service and the

azette

Out o f 1,350

practising solicitors, 1,107 are members o f the

Society—equivalent to 82 per cent. What we want

is too per cent.

I regret to say that the important matters men

tioned in my speech at the last half-yearly meeting—

namely, Law Reform, the increased stamp duties,

and textbooks—still remain in the same position,

and that there is no progress to report on these

matters. You may be sure, however, that they will

have the constant attention of the Council, and as

opportunity arises, steps will be taken to improve

the position.

Since our last meeting, a Sub-Committee o f the

Council waited' on officials o f the Ministry of

Justice, when the Parliamentary draftsmen’s

draft o f the Solicitors Bill was fully considered.